She replaces Kevin Eastwood, who has been Executive Director of BOSS since 1998 and is to retire at the end of March.

Kevin was instrumental in setting up BOSS in 1991 and has led BOSS in its campaign to reduce crime on Britain’s forecourts. At BOSS Kevin built effective partnerships and created new ways to tackle forecourt fuel crime, including Forecourt Watch which brought retailers, police and the oil industry together in a coordinated approach for the first time.

In 2010 BOSS turned to help fuel retailers to recover mounting losses from No Means of Payment incidents and introduced Payment Watch, which has become the most successful debt recovery service in the forecourt fuel sector.

Kevin said: “I’d like to thank everyone involved with BOSS. Together we’ve worked hard to deal with forecourt crime and find new and more effective ways to tackle forecourt fuel crime. I’m confident that with Claire at the helm BOSS will continue to play its part in more innovative ways in helping to reduce forecourt losses through No Means of Payment and Drive Off incidents, whilst driving up standards of safety and security with all forecourt operators across the UK.”

Managing director Claire Nichol joined BOSS in 2006 as Head of Membership Services developing the administrative and support services offered to members. More recently Claire has overseen the transformation of BOSS with the introduction and implementation of the GDPR compliant Electronic Reporting System for Payment Watch, as well as reengineering operating procedures and improving the effectiveness of recovering unpaid fuel debts.

Annually BOSS estimates that 1.7 million incidents of forecourt fuel crime take place in the UK. These incidents cost forecourt operators £88 million (2019).  Up until 2020, forecourt fuel crime was dominated by Drive-Off incidents, however, No Means of Payment (NMoP) now represent two-thirds of all incidents by volume and value.

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Kevin Eastwood of security syndicate BOSS (British Oil Security Syndicate) warns that forecourt crime patterns are undergoing a seismic shift.

“During the first lockdown the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index halved and then, as the economy re-opened for the first time, the BOSS Index jumped 41% during Q3, only to return to negative territory when the second wave struck, and the index fell 27% in Q4. More recently, while reports of No Means of Payment (NMoP) have remained static, Drive Off (DRVO) incidents have soared by 38%” he wrote in a BOSS blog.

“What’s clear is we’re seeing a radical shift in both the size and the type of fuel crime. Gone are the days when DRVO dominated fuel crime on the forecourt. NMoP now represents two thirds of the value of fuel crime, and it has grown steadily.

“As fuel sales make a recovery to pre-pandemic levels and the economy recovers, we expect car travel to continue to grow. Forecourt operators would do well to take note of the changing nature of crime and return to basics to tackle a problem that could balloon over the summer months as staycations bring more travelers onto our roads.

Robust processes required

“Therefore, when an incident occurs on your forecourt, it’s essential that a clear and robust process is in place to impress on motorists that those who do not intend to pay, will be followed up and traced. This has always been one of the benefits of our Payment Watch service and it’s resulted in around 80% of motorists returning to pay within seven days.

“Nowadays DRVO incidents are lower in value when compared to NMoP, which suggests these incidents seem opportunistic. What’s clear is more motorists are taking advantage of forecourt operators’ good nature and claiming to have no means to pay for fuel.

“Sadly, there will be those who have no intention of paying and it amazes me that even when someone is deliberately trying to evade payment, many people think that we will give up. I’m afraid that is not the case anymore.

Easy target

“Some motorists are clearly treating fuel as an easy target when money is tight, a sort of pay-day loan, and it’s essential that BOSS continues to recover money for forecourt retailers.  The is no magic to reducing fuel crime on forecourts, and an essential ingredient is attention to detail and teamwork. Implemented carefully means together, we can, and do, catch offenders.”

Kevin Eastwood
BOSS British Oil Security Syndicate

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