Incidents of forecourt crime reported to BOSS – the British Oil Security Syndicate – fell by 27% during the final quarter of 2020 according to the latest Forecourt Crime Index from BOSS. The period covered the three months up to 31 December 2020 and saw the Q4 2020 BOSS Index fall to 107 (146: Q3 2020 – revised) as lockdown restrictions returned during November.

The BOSS Forecourt Crime Index is based on No Means of Payment (NMoP) incident reports that are made to BOSS Payment Watch, the loss recovery service.  The lockdown had been eased during Q3 allowing drivers to return to the roads and the total number of NMOP incidents reported to BOSS rose by 42% comared with Q2, raising the BOSS Index to 146.

However with the re-imposition of lockdown during Q4 the average number of incidents per site fell by 26% to 7.6 (10.4 in Q3 2020). The average litres of fuel taken per incident increased by 12% in the quarter and as the price of fuel remained virtually unchanged from Q3 the average value of each incident also rose by 12% to £61.77  (Q3 2020: £55.09). The Q4 Index in 2020 is 35% lower than at the same period in 2019.

Kevin Eastwood, BOSS executive director, said: “Further lockdown restrictions during the final quarter of 2020 saw incidents of forecourt crime fall. However the value of each incident did increase.

“During the the second and third periods of lockdown Drive Off incidents have again fallen, this time by around one third, while the volume of NMoP shows no sign of decreasing. The use of cloned plates, remains low but there continues to be an upward trend.”

Forecourt crime reduction guides that help forecourt retailers to reduce incidents and keep forecourts safe places to work and shop are available from BOSS. A free copy of the BOSS Drive-Off Prevention guide can be downloaded by CLICKING HERE