BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate, has published the latest results of the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index. The crime reduction industry body says that incidents per site recorded by BOSS on Britain’s retail forecourts fell by 2pc during the second quarter (Q2) of 2018. However, rising fuel prices during the quarter pushed up the average initial loss per site, before any BOSS Payment Watch recovery, to £345 per site in Q2 2018 (Q1 2018: £327), an increase of 5.5pc.
The BOSS Forecourt Crime Index for Q2 2018 was 139, (Q1 2018: 142). Average financial loss per site was £345 during Q2 2018 (Q1 2018: £327). Net litres lost per site before BOSS Payment Watch recovery was 135.5 during Q2 2018 (Q1 2018: 135.1). BOSS reports that it has returned £1,095,000 to forecourt retailers during the last 12 months.
The Index is based on the number of incidents reported to the group in each quarter, the index base of 100 was established in Q2 2015. During Q2 2018 some incidents additional to those included in the report for Q1 2018 have been recorded by BOSS. Therefore, the number of incidents per site in Q1 2018 has been amended from the previously reported 7.0 to 7.6. In Q2 2018 incidents per sites fell to 7.5, but this could change due to any late reporting of incidents in the quarter.
Kevin Eastwood, executive director of BOSS, pictured, said: “Rising fuel prices have been shown to tempt some motorists to evade payment. However, the latest research demonstrates once again that where robust procedures exist to tackle forecourt crime fuel retailers can recover significant amounts of money. The latest survey results show that BOSS has again returned more than £1 million to our members.”
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 ‘No Means of Payment’ incidents.
