The latest Forecourt Crime Index from BOSS – the British Oil Security Syndicate, has reported that forecourt crime, after an increase during the first quarter of 2020, has fallen to its lowest level since 2015. The BOSS Forecourt Crime Index covering the second quarter (Q2 ) of 2020 fell by 50.1%  to 99 (198: Q1 2020). However, the volume of incidents is on the rise and BOSS expect a surge in incidents during the second half of 2020.

The Q2 2020 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 from BOSS. The total number of incidents reported in Q2 2020 fell by 50% when compared with Q1 2020, which was a record high, and down 46% when compared with Q2 2019.

The average number of Incidents per site also fell by 50% from 14 in Q1 to 7 in Q2 2020, but the average litres drawn per incident surged 20.2% to 48 litres (39.9 litres: Q1 2020).  As a result the average value per incident increased 5.7% to £53.63 (£50.73 per incident: Q1 2020). At 117ppl average fuel prices during Q2 2020 were 12% lower than in Q2 (127ppl: Q1 2020).

Kevin Eastwood, BOSS executive director, said: “We’ve found that the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated a trend towards NMoP and it now accounts for approximately two thirds of all forecourt fuel crime incidents.

“Anecdotal evidence collected since June indicates that the volume of Drive-Off incidents has already returned to pre COVID levels. All the indicators now point to rising levels of forecourt crime and we anticipate a further surge in forecourt crime as the COVID-19 recession starts to bite.

“BOSS research has established that the real problem is more than a million incidents still take place every year. This means Drive-Off and NMoP incidents cost the forecourt sector about £60 million per annum; that’s double the problem it was 10 years ago.”

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 from the BOSS website at https://bossuk.org/guidance