Voting has now closed for the 2025 Forecourt Trader of the Year’s Special Recognition Award, run in conjunction with principal sponsor Booker Retail Partners, and voted for by our readers.
This year our readers had the chance to choose one of six trailblazing individuals who are showing entrepreneurial spirit, operational excellence and a dynamic vision that continues to redefine the forecourt sector.
The winner of the coveted award will be announced on October 9 at the Forecourt Trader Awards evening event at the Park Plaza in London.
You can find out more about the contenders below:
Chelvatheebam Chelvam, managing director of Grove Retail
Chelvatheebam Chelvam, founder and managing director of Grove Retail, began his petrol retailing journey in 1990 when he opened his first self-built dealer site.
By the early 2000s he had expanded into Scotland, and today the group has grown to 28 forecourt sites.
Chelvam is widely recognised for introducing forward-thinking solutions, and embracing modern retail technologies across his sites. Under his leadership, the business has launched its own Caffe Beans coffee, and Friez food-to-go range: both brands are now central to the company’s distinctive customer offer.
Chelvam continues to innovate and is currently in the process of delivering four new-to-industry forecourts which are being designed with innovation and sustainability at their core.
Sarah Dunning, chair of Westmorland Group
Sarah is chair of her family business, Westmorland Group, which was founded by her parents in 1972 when the M6 was built through their hill farm in Cumbria. She was CEO from 2005 and took the business into its second generation, reinforcing its community impact through its local supply chain, its 1,200 local employees, its building and landscape design and its community giving.
Since 2005, Sarah has brought the core business into a new era, with its homemade food and vibrant farmshops, always striving to offer a different model on Britain’s motorways. She has also grown the business, having built Gloucester Services on the M5 near Gloucester, and having acquired and redeveloped Cairn Lodge Services in Lanarkshire, Scotland. She is now developing Tatton Services on the M56 in Cheshire, which has been granted planning permission and is due to see building work start next year.
Dunning was awarded the OBE for services to hospitality in 2014.
Kris Navaratnam, managing director of Krisco Services
Kris Navaratnam has owned and operated petrol stations for the past 28 years.
He joined the industry when he came to the UK in the early 1990s from Sri Lanka due to civil war, and took an opportunity to work in a petrol station as a cashier.
In 1996 he took on his first service station as a commission operator, and in 2003 he bought his first freehold service station in Oxfordshire.
In the years since 2003 Kris has bought more than 25 service stations throughout the UK, working with many of the major fuel suppliers including BP, Shell, Esso and Texaco. And for the past 15 years all of his shops have been supplied by Booker Retail Partners trading under Budgens and Londis fascias.
Navaratnam’s expertise lies in identifying sites with plenty opportunity to grow, and then redeveloping them to perform to their maximum potential. Most recently, he bought and completed a knock down rebuild of Mellors Service Station Wantage, Oxfordshire, which opened in January. This is his largest development to date. It includes a flagship 4,000sq ft Shell Budgens store with a beer cave, Cook frozen food, and an extensive hot food to go range cooked in the site’s open kitchen.
Mohan Periyasamy Palani Samy, director of Samy Group
Mohan Periyasamy Palani Samy moved to the UK in 2003, taking a job as a sales assistant at a BP garage in Gatwick.
Educated in India he had a post graduate diploma in business management behind him, and he soon realised that he could make a good career by becoming self-employed and owning/operating a chain of sites in the UK.
Working on the premise that everyone must eat, he did not differentiate between petrol filling stations or stand-alone convenience stores, and chose sites on whether there was a viable opportunity that could be exploited.
He took his first commission operated site at MFG Aerodrome in Cambridge 19 years ago. And focusing on four main business principles – product availability, store standards, price position, and customer service – he grew his portfolio.
He now operates 16 forecourts, seven of which he owns the freehold of himself, and the remainder he runs as a commission operator for MFG (seven sites), SGN Retail (one) and Rontec (one).
He also owns 60 convenience stores – 40 of which are Morrisons Daily, 16 Budgens and four Londis. By the end of 2026 he hopes to be operating 100 forecourt and convenience store sites.
But one of his biggest achievements perhaps is encouraging many members of his staff over the years to become commission operators themselves.
Sej Sejpal, director of Platinum Retail Group
Sej Sejpal is a 47-year veteran in the fuel industry having started his career with Elf Oil in 1979 as a commission operator. He very quickly went on to run multiple sites with other oil companies, quickly establishing himself in the petrol retailing sector.
In 2001 Sejpal co-founded Motor Fuel Group, rapidly growing the business to over 100 locations. Together with his business partner at the time, Sejpal decided to sell the company to a management team backed by private equity in 2011.
On selling his shares Sejpal then formed the Platinum Retail Group (PRG) in 2011. PRG has grown substantially in the past three years to 60 forecourts. His two sons, Jamie and Josh, have joined him in the business to continue developing the business. He continues to enjoy the game and in particular has a keen eye for a deal!
Zena Tout, brand director of Tout’s
Zena Tout, aged 34, started out in petrol retailing in 2007 as a merchandiser at Tout’s Budgens and steadily progressed through roles to become brand director and co-owner of the now family-run Tout’s Group. Zena brings a fresh perspective to retail, with the ambition of blending thoughtful design and creativity with long-term commercial impact.
She led one of the first successful in-house rebrands by an independent retailer, moving Tout’s away from the Budgens fascia to establish a distinctive identity rooted in community and family values. Zena oversaw the design and development of Tout’s Cleeve, now the flagship site, which was recognised for its innovation and design as winner of two major industry awards, Forecourt Trader of the Year in 2023, and Grocer Gold.
She also launched the Tout’s loyalty scheme, which has over 40,000 cardholders, and is backed by a £300,000 annual investment.
Her impact on forecourt retail continues to grow, shaped by bold ideas and a commitment to doing things differently. Zena made her four-person marketing team a business priority, driving initiatives like zero food waste, Tout’s million meal pledge, and raising £10,000 during the Gromit Unleashed 3 charity event.
