Fuel crime prevention company Forecourt Eye is offering 2,000 retailers free access to a new incident reporting technology as they grapple with rising theft, abuse and violence.
Forecourt Eye MD Michelle Henchoz said it would enable operators to create and manage “police-ready” reports of fuel theft and retail crime under one integrated system.
The crime management platform would help retailers pull together evidence that would give police a higher chance of a successful prosecution outcome, the company added.
It can be used in conjunction with Forecourt Eye’s automatic number plate recognition technology, which alerts staff when vehicles involved in previous drive-off offences enter the forecourt.
Forecourt Eye also offers a debt recovery service that helps retailers recover payments from motorists who declared they had no means to pay.
The new crime management platform is operated by facial recognition technology provider Facewatch. Forecourt Eye has partnered with Facewatch to bring the service to its customers. It will be available from September.
The technology development comes as Forecourt Eye’s finds the number of unpaid fuel incidents, including no means of payment declarations and drive-offs, are running 20% above the level recorded before the conflict in Iran began, which has led to fast rising fuel prices.
Based on a representative sample of 550 forecourts, the analysis recorded an average of 189 incidents a day in the five months following 28 February, compared with 158 a day in the preceding five months, marking a 17.9% increase.
Extrapolated across all 8,350 UK forecourts, the figures suggest that daily incidents have risen from around 2,400 to approximately 2,872, according to Forecourt Eye.
The estimated volume of fuel involved has also increased by 24%, from 87,800 litres to 108,900 litres a day, while its estimated daily value has risen by 48%, from around £131,000 to £194,000.
If sustained, the current rate would equate to approximately £70.7m a year in unpaid fuel value – around £22.9m more than the pre-conflict period.
Forecourt Eye said these figures underlined the growing financial burden on operators as theft and pump prices increased.
Alongside rising fuel theft, forecourt operators were also continuing to report growing levels of abuse, intimidation and violence from frustrated customers, it added.
“Our customers have told us they increasingly want one place to manage everything from unpaid fuel and ANPR intelligence through to shop theft, violence and police reporting,” said Henchoz.
“This partnership delivers exactly that while fitting seamlessly into the way they already work. As offending becomes more organised and more sophisticated, operators need joined-up technology that helps them protect both their forecourt and their convenience store.”
Facewatch CEO Nick Fisher said: “The distinction between fuel crime and retail crime has largely disappeared. Modern forecourts face the same prolific offenders, violence and abuse experienced across the wider retail sector.
“By combining Forecourt Eye’s expertise on the forecourt with Facewatch’s crime management capability, we’re giving operators a single platform to prevent crime, manage investigations and help police tackle repeat and violent offenders.
“The partnership also means forecourts can consider accessing our live facial recognition technology to create a really powerful shield against all types of crime and that next step would enable the capability to instantly alert police when the highest harm offenders are on their forecourts.”
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