Kevin Eastwood of security syndicate BOSS (British Oil Security Syndicate) warns that forecourt crime patterns are undergoing a seismic shift.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“What\u2019s clear is we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Robust processes required<\/strong><\/p>\n “Therefore, when an incident occurs on your forecourt, it\u2019s 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\u2019s resulted in around 80% of motorists returning to pay within seven days.<\/p>\n “Nowadays DRVO incidents are lower in value when compared to NMoP, which suggests these incidents seem opportunistic. What\u2019s clear is more motorists are taking advantage of forecourt operators\u2019 good nature and claiming to have no means to pay for fuel.<\/p>\n “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\u2019m afraid that is not the case anymore.<\/p>\n Easy target<\/strong><\/p>\n “Some motorists are clearly treating fuel as an easy target when money is tight, a sort of pay-day loan, and it\u2019s essential that BOSS continues to recover money for forecourt retailers.\u00a0 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.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kevin Eastwood Forecourt operators have experienced a turbulent 12 months which has seen fuel crime see-saw up and down Kevin Eastwood of security syndicate BOSS (British Oil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[809,811,806,810,807,808],"yoast_head":"\n
\nBOSS British Oil Security Syndicate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"