The Maxol Group has announced that it is replacing its regular unleaded petrol with its new E5 fuel - a blend of 95% petrol and 5% locally- produced ethanol - at all its 150 sites in Ireland.
As parts of the country mop up after the floods, do you believe you are adequately covered for damage to property and loss of business following such a disaster?
The government is being urged to take action and inject public funds into struggling forecourts. The Petrol Retail Association (PRA) is calling on Westminster to consider a grant scheme similar to one already operating in Scotland. The plea comes in light of the latest figures from forecourt network specialist Catalist, which shows that by the end of 2007, there will be just 9,300 forecourts left in the UK
Shell UK has agreed terms to create a long-term relationship with the Swayfields Group under which it will take operational control of a package of filling stations across the UK. It will take new long-term leases on all Swayfields Group existing and new development motorway service area filling stations.
Suddenly there seems to be a lot of sympathy for the plight of the poor old service station. Site numbers have been tumbling for years, so it's ironic that when the rate of closure seems actually to be slowing, there's quite a lot of media fuss about it.
Chevron's vice president of marketing in Europe, and keynote speaker at the last Top Indies dinner, John Lynn, and general manager of retail sales, Guy Vigar, are moving on to new roles following a restructure at Chevron Ltd.
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, about her comments blaming 'dodgy off licences' for under-age drinking problems.
Tyre Safe is running a tyre safety awareness campaign throughout October. It was originally planned as a week-long event but following massive interest and support from tyre retailers and manufacturers, it was decided to extend it to a whole month.
The number of petrol stations serving the motoring public has been falling for years but suddenly, it seems, the whole world is beginning to take an interest, with coverage in the national press and on TV and radio bemoaning the loss of the community forecourt.
GENERAL APPEARANCE: Leaving Crewkerne town centre, south on the A356 I saw a Texaco pole ahead and as I needed some lunch decided to make a 'stealthcheck' on the site. I parked in a side street as the entrance to the forecourt was blocked, and walked.
A subject that affects a great many retailers - albeit that they may not realise they are affected - is money laundering. Used in its broadest sense, the term is now taken to refer to any criminal financial activity that crosses over into apparently legitimate business activity. This means that it ranges from using a retail business to recycle 'dirty money' into the commercial banking sector, through to the purchase and sale of stolen goods themselves, to handling the proceeds of theft, fraud or tax evasion.
Motorway forecourts are always thought to be a different kettle of fish compared with traditional service stations. They have a captive audience after all - there's no quick way off a motorway if you're in dire need of fuel, a break or any other kind of emergency, and their reputation for astronomical fuel prices is legendary.
Its forecourt is made from concrete mixed with pieces of recycled glass; its roof has 90 solar panels; and it uses low-energy lighting. However this is not some space-age prototype but a fully operational BP forecourt trading in Los Angeles.
When it comes to chocolate, we're all getting a little bit posher in our tastes. Forget your cheap and cheerful offerings, customers increasingly want better quality chocs in fancier packaging. And so it is that the premium sector is one of the main trends driving today's chocolate market for retailers.
Ask a consumer where they'd go to buy something for their car and most would probably say Halfords. The car accessory/bike chain is doing very well at the moment. However, according to Graham Tissiman, sales and marketing manager at the Convenience Distribution Group (CDG), forecourts have some major advantages over it. "First there's the forecourts' daily footfall, then there's the fact that most people entering a forecourt are in a car-orientated mood and retailers need to take advantage of this," he says.
PayPoint retailers can now sign up to sell some of the UK's most popular gift cards. The Gift Card Programme follows a deal between Paypoint - which is now used by more than 1,200 forecourt operators in UK, and Coinstar E-Payment Services, an affiliate of Coinstar.
Walkers is launching Sunbites, its first ever wholegrain snack. Made with whole wheat, whole oats and whole corn, they contain 30% less fat than regular crisps.
Typhoo tea has been given a face-lift to modernise its image, plus there's a new range of fruit and herb teas. Typhoo Fruit Creations include orange & ginseng, known to enhance wellbeing; green rooibos & honey, renowned for its thirst-quenching properties; and a super-fruits infusion, a source of antioxidants with blueberry, blackberry & acai.
Diageo GB is investing more than £6m in a new rugby-themed advertising campaign for Guinness to coincide with the World Cup. Entitled "Seconds from Greatness", it highlights the connection between the black stuff and rugby by drawing parallels between the enjoyment of great rugby moments and those of a pint of Guinness.
The Fabulous Bakin' Boys makes an extensive range of sweet treats including muffins, cookies, flapjacks, cupcakes, chocolate waffles and traditional cake slices.
So farewell, then, mister cheque - you served us well. Well, actually, if the truth be told you were really a right pain in the arse, but we used to handle a hell of lot of you once upon a time. Check for the Shakespeare hologram, does the sort code match, which building society is it that you can't be certain of, check the signature... the list was endless. Quite how we didn't end up with many more bounced pieces of paper I'll never know. The news that even Sainsbury's has stopped accepting cheques in its stores from August must surely hasten their complete demise from all forms of retail. For once petrol retailers were ahead of the game - most of us had banned them a long time ago, but that didn't stop us from getting stick from the odd customer (and, boy, do we get some odd customers) who reckoned we couldn't refuse his perforation. At least it won't only be 'you petrol retailers' who are accused of being rogues and vagabonds.
T win, simply write your name, address and telephone number on a postcard or a sealed envelope stating what you want – Terry's Chocolate Orange, Powerade, Ginsters or Fabulous Bakin' Boys – and we'll do the rest, including delivery. Send it to Forecourt Trader, Broadfield Park, Crawley, West Sussex RH11 9RT by September 30, 2007.
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As a show of strength by dealers helped to put BP's deal with fuel card company Arval back on the table, should retailers come together more often to fight their corner on other key issues that affect their businesses?
