Another day, another set of apparently alarming statistics. And another juicy opportunity for the pessimists and doom-mongers to leap in and warn about increasing problems ahead – safe in the expectation that no-one will call them to account when it all turns out to be just another over-blown scare.
This time it’s 'research' that has spotted a further decline in the total number of fuel stations in the UK – down 6.3% in 2005 to 9,812 as another 663 sites shut up shop and seal their tanks.
The report puts this down to the oil companies. It’s said to be yet another turn of the screw in their relentless pursuit of ‘efficiency’ in distribution and management costs – but one that is creating an increasing challenge for business drivers of fleets with fuelcards that are only accepted at a restricted network of sites. The dire consequences of this trend are spelt out: drivers forced to waste fuel and many hours of work time hunting for the right brand, having to plan ahead when and where they’re going to refuel – or use their own cash and pay over the odds at other sites.
So, should courier fleet operators be concerned ? Not a bit – as long as they have chosen their fuelcard wisely. In the circumstances, the main surprise is that it is actually a fuelcard supplier, Arval, that is the reported author of this gloomy picture of desperate drivers, anxiously scouring the nation’s road network for a familiar fuel logo, with one eye on the critical state of their fuel gauge.
In reality (which always follows rumour – except in the dictionary), the only challenge facing courier fleets is to ensure their fuelcard is one that automatically protects them from such a scenario.
abbey Fuelcards, for example, ensure that all their cardholder drivers never face such anxieties – and it’s all an integral part of card membership. This is not simply via a conventional site directory. abbey also provides free online, sms text and satellite navigation services to pinpoint a convenient fuel stop whenever and wherever in the country a driver happens to be at the time.
Nor have site networks for each abbey fuelcard gone spiralling into numerical decline. On the contrary, abbey are regularly able to announce new sites being added – notably, this Summer, all morrisons fuel forecourts.
The raw statistics may well be true – but the suggested implications don’t have to be.