Fuel thefts from forecourts fell marginally in the second quarter of this year, according to BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate, but rising fuel prices meant the average initial loss was higher.

The BOSS Forecourt Crime Index reveals that incidents per site recorded by BOSS on Britain’s retail forecourts fell by 2% during the second quarter (Q2).

However, rising fuel prices pushed up the average initial loss per site, before any BOSS Payment Watch recovery, to £345 (Q1 £327), an increase of 5.5%.

Net litres lost per site before BOSS Payment Watch recovery was 135.5 during Q2 (Q1 135.1)

The BOSS Forecourt Crime Index for Q2 was 139, compared with 142 in the previous quarter.

The BOSS Index is based on the number of incidents reported to BOSS in each quarter, and the index base of 100 was established in Q2 2015.

During Q2 2018 some incidents additional to those included in the report for Q1 have been recorded by BOSS. Therefore, the number of incidents per site in Q1 has been amended from the previously reported 7.0 to 7.6. In Q2 incidents per sites fell to 7.5, but BOSS said this could change due to any late reporting of incidents in the quarter.

BOSS also reported it had returned £1,095,000 to forecourt retailers during the past 12 months.

Kevin Eastwood, executive director of BOSS, said: “Rising fuel prices have been shown to tempt some motorists to evade payment. However, the latest research demonstrates once again that where robust procedures exist to tackle forecourt crime fuel retailers can recover significant amounts of money. The latest survey results show that BOSS has again returned more than £1m to our members.”