The Gasoline Retailers Association said driving incidents, where a driver fills up and does not try to pay before leaving, have increased by 61% so far this year compared to the same period in 2021. Gordon Ballmer, PRA’s chief executive, said the number of thefts had “crossed the ceiling”, with 10 incidents a day being reported, and predicted that retailers would lose 25 25m if the current removal rate continued for the next 12 years. months. . The incidence of drivers who said they were unable to pay for the fuel they had already put in their vehicle, as they forgot their wallet, has also increased, reaching an annual cost to the industry of 16 16 million. “You are looking for almost 41 41 million in cost for the fuel industry, either stolen through autonomy or people do not have the means to pay,” Balmer said. “It’s a really difficult issue right now, and it’s growing.” Asked if the retailers were receiving enough support from the police, he replied: “Under pressure from the police in recent years, many police forces have said: ‘It is not a criminal offense, it is a civil offense, so you have to deal with it, and if the real the value of the crime is under 100 pounds, then we will not send anyone to police it “. This has been raised by me personally with the Ministry of Interior “. Operators said there was a “huge increase” in verbal abuse of courtyard staff by drivers who were angry with pump prices. Darren Briggs, CEO of the Ascona Group, which has 59 service stations throughout the UK, said: explain to customers how the market works “. Data from the data company Experian show that the average price of a liter of gasoline in the strongholds of the United Kingdom reached the new high of 191.2 a.m. on Tuesday. Subscribe to the Business Email daily email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The average price of diesel was 199 p per liter, a fraction of a penny below the record of 199.1 p per liter on Saturday. This has led car groups to accuse retailers of refusing to pass on recent reductions in wholesale costs. The RAC said “there is no rhyme or reason why suburban average prices are still rising”, while AA claimed that drivers were “taken as fools by retailers”. Briggs pointed out that there was huge volatility in the market, which meant that pump prices depended heavily on the timing at which retailers bought new supplies. The Ascona Group needed a profit margin of at least 9 p.m. per liter to cover costs such as salaries and utility bills, but for the past two months he has been “lucky to make 7 p.m. per liter “, he said. He said all retailers had passed the 5 pp / liter fuel tax cut implemented by the Finance Ministry in March. This month, the Competition and Purchasing Authority launched a “brief and focused review” of how much drivers were charged for fuel at the request of Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. Chancellor Risi Sunak told lawmakers Tuesday that he would carefully consider calls for a more substantial reduction in fuel tariffs.
