Petrol retailers can take the initiative on ?evasion of liability? for fuel, and put the pressure on customers who claim they have no means of payment, says the British Oil Security Syndicate (BOSS).
Tom Sterling, BOSS South East regional co-ordinator, outlined the syndicate?s guidance to managing evasion of liability incidents, at a joint forecourt crime conference. He, BOSS Executive Director Kevin Eastwood, Thames Valley Police officers, and representatives from software firm Arciris and CCTV manufacturer Neurodynamics were among the speakers at an event at the Metropolitan Police training centre at Hendon. Tom Sterling told Professional Security: ?We don?t perceive forecourts to be dangerous places, but many retailers suffer from drive-offs. BOSS is working closely with a number of police forces across the UK to successfully tackle the issue.? He added that BOSS is making inroads into evasion of payment – which is another form of drive-off – and is changing attitudes among police and petrol retailers, who are seeing that they can do something about the problem. Police arebeginnining to see evasion of payment more as a criminal matter rather than a civil debt, Tom Sterling said. He made the point that those involved in evasion may well be connected with other crimes of interest to the police.
BOSS offers guidance to members when customers claim they cannot pay for fuel. Points include establishing the local police policy on the issue (which varies from area to area); using discretion to see if the customer has truly ?forgotten? his wallet; obtaining an address and home phone number (not a mobile); asking the customer to wait during a check of identity; checking the vehicle tax disc matches the registration plate; and considering, with police agreement, putting together a notice that would warn an evader, possibly including a thumbprint. The guidance states that thorough checks of payment-evading customers are worth the investment in time: ?Word will soon get around that you are not an easy touch.?
When Professional Security suggested that pre-payment might solve payment-evasion, Tom Sterling pointed to technical difficulties in installing pre-payment equipment, and added an economic reason: it is felt that customers would be more likely to buy other products at the forecourt shop if they paid for petrol after rather than before filling up. Other subjects covered at the January 31 seminar included good practice among Forecourt Watch schemes and fraud control. Richard Allen-Miles, Commercial Manager for CCTV manufacturer Neurodynamics, spoke on use of automatic number plate recognition.
