Applegreen UK, which has more than 100 forecourt sites in the UK, has joined BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate.
Adrian Grimes, Head of UK Operations at Applegreen, said: “We’ve looked carefully at various options and decided to join BOSS to take advantage of its Payment Watch service because it offers a customer friendly, yet robust means of helping customers who have no means of payment for fuel that has been drawn. BOSS Payment Watch has been shown to respect customers who’ve made a genuine mistake. However, it does take a very proactive approach to recover debts from those who do not make a payment.”
BOSS says of its Payment Watch scheme, that where it operates 84 per cent of motorists return direct to sites to settle their debt with a forecourt retailer. The value of NMoP (No Means of Payment) recovered by retailers using BOSS Payment Watch reached a total of £8.2m during the last 12 months, the forecourt trade body adds.
Where motorists do not return and pay for fuel BOSS will pursue vehicle owners and take steps to recover the debt. Annually, BOSS reports, it returns more than £1m to its members.
Kevin Eastwood, executive director of BOSS, pictured, said: “We’re delighted that Applegreen has joined BOSS and it is another great endorsement of the benefits that BOSS offers retailers.”
Forecourt crime is estimated to cost retailers more than £30m annually with some two thirds of crime resulting from drive-offs (deliberately not paying) and the remainder coming from NMoP incidents (where drivers claim not to have the means to pay). Visit https://www.bossuk.co.uk/.
