Ramsay MacDonald, retail director, Certas Energy, used his address to the assembled 850 guests at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, for the 2017 Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards, to praise the outstanding contributions by petrol retailers and their staff in raising forecourt standards.

Acknowledging that the forecourt and convenience industry is in good shape, he paid a special tribute to the role of the store teams, supervisors and sales staff working on forecourts across the UK.

“These are the real heroes of our industry, the true ambassadors of our businesses,” said MacDonald. “Serving our customers all day every day, sometimes under the most difficult of circumstances. We literally couldn’t manage without them.”

He added that investment in facilities and people will remain key to future success and as stores become busier the components of a winning formula will be “Fast, Friendly, Available and Clean”.

MacDonald concluded his presentation at the petrol retailing industry’s Oscars by reassuring the audience that whatever the future holds, Gulf Retail will be there to support them and help to maximise their revenues.