Incidents of forecourt crime recorded by BOSS fell by 7.5 per cent during the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, according to the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index from the oil industry crime prevention trade body. The index is based on No Means of Payment (NMoP) incident reports that are made to BOSS as part of its Payment Watch scheme. During the first three months of 2019 the index fell to 142 (151: last quarter of 2018). The index was set at 100 in the second quarter of 2015.
During the first quarter of 2019, the average number of incidents recorded per site was 10.1 (compared with in the previous three months: 10.7) resulting in the average initial loss per site, before any Payment Watch recovery, falling to £484 in the quarter (compared with, in the last quarter of 2018: £560). The average fuel price in the quarter was 125.2 pence per litre, 4.5pc lower than in the previous quarter (131.1pence in the last three months of 2018), and the average initial loss per site in litres fell to 386 (compared with 428).
Kevin Eastwood, BOSS executive director, pictured, said: “All our indicators are moving in the right direction and during the early part of 2019 we have seen incidents of forecourt crime continue to fall. It is positive to see the average number of incidents per site fall again as BOSS has worked hard to tackle forecourt crime and increasingly retailers are taking on more responsibility to control crime.”
“Any loss is unacceptable and we still need retailers to remain vigilant and take responsibility to ensure that, where incidents do take place, the correct evidence is collected and retained. BOSS will continue to promote stronger partnerships between retailers and police forces. These have proved to reduce losses for retailers, reduce demands on police time, and bring persistent offenders before the courts.”
BOSS adds that forecourt crime is estimated to cost retailers more than £30m annually with some two thirds of crime resulting from Drive-Offs and the remainder coming from NMoP incidents. Payment Watch is now responsible for recovering more than £8m of NMoP losses for retailers.
