Prices at the pumps are not the only thing rising at petrol stations, judging by the latest Forecourt Crime Index from BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate. It’s suggested that financial losses from unpaid fuel increased by 4.2pc during the fourth quarter of 2021, costing forecourt operators an average of £2,563 per site. The increase was driven by fuel prices rising more than 13pc during the quarter, despite the number of forecourt crime incidents falling 5.7pc.
During the three months to December 2021 the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index fell to 174 (185: in the third quarter of 2021). The Index covers reports of No Means of Payment (NMoP) and Drive Off incidents submitted to BOSS Payment Watch, which offers a specialist forecourt fuel loss recovery service.
During the final quarter of 2021 NMoP incident reports declined by 3.4pc (compared with a rise of 11.5pc the quarter before) and the number of Drive-Off incidents fell 9.5pc (compared with a rise of 7.5pc in the second quarter of 2021).
The average number of incidents per site decreased to 17.7 (18.7: in the previous quarter). NMoP incidents account for 64pc of all reports and cost forecourt retailers on average £66 per incident, while a Drive Off loss is about £45 per incident. In that last quarter of 2021 fuel prices continued an upward trend and increased 13.3pc to an average of 144.8 pence per litre (ppl) for unleaded petrol (131.5 ppl in the third quarter of 2021), however, average prices in December 2021 reached 146.1 ppl.
Kevin Eastwood, pictured, executive director at BOSS, said: “Rising fuel prices have pushed average losses from unpaid fuel to over £10,000 a year per site. However, during the last quarter of 2021, forecourt operators worked hard to strengthen procedures when dealing with unpaid fuel incidents, which led to an overall fall in the number of incidents. Record fuel prices make not paying for fuel more attractive to criminals. We strongly recommend that forecourt staff should take extra care when authorising pumps and serving customers during peak periods.
“Retailers should be aware of any suspicious behaviour while motorists draw fuel. They’d also benefit from following established procedures to deal with those having no means to pay, such as Payment Watch, so that motorist who make a genuine mistake can be treated respectfully and return to pay either in person, via phone or online.”
About BOSS Payment Watch
As a debt recovery service available to fuel retailers, the scheme features guidelines and procedures that help forecourt retailers to recover the cost of unpaid fuel from Drive-Off and No Means of Payment incidents.
Forecourt crime reduction guides, that help forecourt retailers to reduce incidents and keep forecourts safe places to work and shop, are available from BOSS. A free copy of the BOSS Drive-Off Prevention guide can be downloaded from the BOSS website at https://bossuk.org/guidance.
