Asda and Tesco have both cut prices at the pumps by up to 3p a litre in the run up to Christmas. Asda was the first to announce the price cuts for unleaded petrol and diesel over the weekend. It was soon followed by Tesco. The supermarkets said they were passing on

The AA today said there was "some relief but little Christmas cheer" in the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report. The organisation welcomed the fact that the fuel duty increase due in April 2010 had not been brought forward as well as incentives for electric cars.

The AA has warned the Chancellor not to pull any 'tricks out of his box' to hammer the motorist in a pre-Christmas stunt. The organisation pointed out that since the last pre-budget report fuel

Harvest Energy has signed its fifth site with independent retailer Sectorsure. The site, on the Seven Sisters Road in London, will be fully branded to Harvest Energy by Christmas.

Brian Madderson has urged retailers to help the industry challenge the Valuations Office Agency (VOA) over its 2010 Business Rates assessments. The

Rumblings of serious problems with E5 are being echoed around the retail network following a spate of incidents where vehicles are breaking down

Forecourts across Cumbria reported that they were extremely busy during the recent devastating floods.

Shell has launched a trial selling Waitrose products in three of its forecourt stores in the Birmingham area.

Topaz, Ireland's largest fuels and convenience retailer, was recognised for its "new format, which responds to

Two men have been jailed for a total of seven years after a terrified woman cashier was forced to lock herself in a

Valerie Dowling (left) of Mace Approach, a BP service station in Andover, Hampshire, is the winner of the Forecourt Category of the Sales Assistant of the Year Awards 2009, run by Forecourt Trader's sister publication Convenience Store.

Hilary Brock Ltd filling station in Olney, Buckinghamshire, has signed to Gulf after almost a century as a non-branded site. The old-style fuel stop, located on the Victorian high street, has been at the heart of the town since 1921 and serves customers with two traditional swing arm twin pumps. Owned and operated by brothers Norton and Patrick Brock, the site pumps 1.2mlpa and also has a Ford dealership.

Indigo buys TQIPS

Do you think the expected hike in business rates will put some retailers out of business?

Where to start when there are such serious issues facing the forecourt sector, as the twists and turns of life as a petrol retailer continue to max-out everyone's nerves this year.

Brian Madderson has vowed to make the fight over business rates the top priority under his new leadership of RMI Petrol, (formerly known as the Petrol Retailers'

GENERAL APPEARANCE: This site was easily located in the middle of the market town of Buckingham by the familiar Gulf logo.

Watch out: standard VAT rate back to 17.5% from January 1 2010

He's on a roll

BACKGROUND

Manager Edward Prosser has been busy making changes at the Harry Tuffins site which was the overall winner in the Main Route category in Shropshire in the past year. One of the main changes is the newly-built glass atrium at the front of the store which now houses hot food, food-to-go, coffee and a range of plants. Edward, manager since the site opened at the beginning of 2007, says the latest addition has proved a success with the site's wide range of customers.

Only a third of drivers use an automatic car wash at a petrol station at least once a year, according to the UK Consumer Car Wash Survey by Datamonitor. It also reveals that motorists rate service station automatic washes most highly for ease of use and minimum personal effort. But they give them a poorer rating for value for money and vehicle care.

Last year more shoppers than ever bought into the Easter confectionery category, shopping more often and spending more each time. Indeed according to TNS Worldpanel data for January-April 2009, 750,000 more UK shoppers bought Easter confectionery; there were 10million more shopping trips across the season than in 2008, with punters spending 12% more.

It seems that consumers are more than happy to cough up for health and beauty products so the advice is 'don't hide them away'. Mike Greene, director at Harris International Marketing (Him), says many retailers are missing a trick when it comes to the health and beauty category. He explains: "The penetration of customers buying health and beauty items at forecourts is currently 1%. We feel this could be much more. Often the health and beauty section is hidden away or kept behind the till due to the retailer's paranoia about theft. Therefore the category is out of sight and out of mind to most customers.

Dragons' Den's Peter Jones has launched a prepay cashcard called On-X Go prepaid MasterCard via his mobile distribution company Data Select. The company has teamed up with prepaid programme manager M-Cube for the project. George

PDQ Manufacturing has launched its latest touch-free car wash live on the internet. The US company hosted LaserWash Live online where viewers could see the equipment and ask questions about the new system via a chat room.

National crime prevention initiative Raid-control has expanded its robbery deterrent package to include tobacco products within cigarette gantries. According to the organisation, some criminals have been targeting the tobacco gantries within c-stores and demanding that the person behind the counter hands over cigarettes.

Signwaves' pavement sign 'the Swinger' is being changed to make it more user friendly. All poster versions of the sign are now fitted with top-opening poster pockets, which replace the existing bottom-opening oness. The company said this will make it much easier to get to the posters.

GS1 UK, a not-for-profit supply chain standards and solutions organisation, has launched a new online resource to raise awareness of the new GS1 DataBar bar code due to be introduced as a global standard in 2014.

This Christmas may be the second that shoppers have faced during this recession but research from Mintel suggests retail sales are still growing in both volume and value terms.

Snack bar brand Nature Valley is sponsoring the Ramblers Festival of Winter Walks 2009/2010.

Kettle Chips has teamed up with LoveFilm, the online DVD rental service and entertainment website, for its latest promotion.

The major confectionery companies have all released their new products for Easter 2010.

Natural sports drink brand Soccerade is to benefit from a multi-million pound national marketing programme to drive home its natural and caffeine-free credentials to independent retailers. The brand, launched in the UK earlier this year and backed by footballer Christiano Ronaldo is aimed at all sports enthusiasts.

Macleans has been named official fully integrated sponsor for the fifth series of ITV1's Dancing On Ice, which is due on screens in early 2010.

Ginsters has launched a range of limited-edition Christmas-themed sandwiches aimed at festive snacking.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) says it is getting ready for its biggest Christmas ever with seasonal campaigns for Coke and Schweppes.

New Covent Garden has added three flavours to its 'Fresh for Winter' range. The 600g soups are tomato & fennel, coronation chicken and Bengal lancers (rrp £1.99 in outers of six).

BP has introduced a winter spice muffin for the festive season at its Wild Bean Cafés. Containing sultanas, cherries, mixed peel and currants, the muffin has a rrp of £1.39.

JTI has released a Hamlet Essentials Pack for Christmas containing five packs of Hamlet fine cigars, five of Hamlet Miniatures and of Hamlet Smooth Miniatures.

Write your name, address and phone number on a postcard or sealed envelope stating what you want – Lucozade, Swan, Philip's or Appletiser – and we'll do the rest, including delivery. Send it to us at Forecourt Trader, William Reed Business Media, Broadfield Park, Crawley, West Sussex RH11 9RT by December 31, 2009.

Evian is launching its annual New Year detox campaign for the ninth year. Evian Renew will be supported by a £3m spend including TV advertising with roller-skating babies.

Swan is giving readers the chance to win outers of Swan Green papers, Swan Combi packs and Swan 5+1 Free Multipacks.

To celebrate the launch of its 2010 road atlases, Philip's is giving readers the chance to win one of five sets of five copies of the Big Road Atlas of Britain.

Appletiser is embracing the seasonal spirit by offering retailers the chance to each win cases of Appletiser.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) says it is exploding onto the UK energy shots market with a massive £13m marketing investment to support the launch of Lucozade Alert Plus. Developed specifically for UK consumers and underpinned by GSK's extensive soft drinks expertise and market credibility, the company says Lucozade Alert Plus will be instrumental in building a £114m energy shots category in the UK by 2013.

The day starts somewhere between 5am and 6.30am, depending on how far I have to travel that day. With a head office in Croydon and living on the Surrey/Hampshire border, the drive to work takes about an hour so I have plenty of time to gather my thoughts before starting the day.

Unite has announced that it is to ballot BP tanker drivers who deliver fuel to Sainsbury's forecourts. The trade union said the 240 drivers, around 200 of which are Unite members, work on the