G. M. STEER AND M. T. R. BOWEN

occupier having been first proved. Thus it is conceivable that, for example, a petrol pump attendant can connive at a serious breach of a condition by a customer without the authority being able to prosecute anybody.

The problem is not the same for a breach of Regulations made under the Act, for the Act provides that anyone who contravenes the Regulations commits an offence.

It is interesting to speculate on what might happen if a local authority were guilty of an offence under the Act or Regulations, for, on general principles, it is quite clear that local authorities are bound by the Act, and thus many authorities are obliged to issue licences to themselves. It seems to be a common practice for such licences to be issued in the name of an officer of the authority. In addition to its seeming invidious to place personal responsibility on an officer, this practice would appear to be strictly incorrect. It is the authority who owns or leases the land, and is therefore the occupier, and not the officer. The act does not apply to the Crown.

I have not so far referred to the Transfer of Licenses Act of 1936. It should be noted that there is no right of appeal against a refusal to transfer a licence. It may be that the High Court would no.t an authority to refuse to transfer a licence for capnc10us reasons, although this is not free from doubt. In any e':'ent, it would appear to be quite legitimate for an authonty to refuse to transfer a licence on the ground, for that the transfer would tend to perpetuate the existence of an old-fashioned site which cannot conform with modern safety standards.

1"The Times", 20th May, 1966, (1966) 2 All.E.R. 816. 2(1966) 2 All.E.R. at p. 820, paragraph C. 3(1910) A.C. at p. 596. 'At p. 821, paragraph D. 0(1879) 43 JP 718. 6Regulation 1(2). 7(1914) 1 KB 258, 11 LGR 1220.

FUTURE TRENDS IN PETROLEUM SPIRIT DISPENSING

G. M. Steer (Shell Mex and B.P. Ltd.) and M. T. R. Bowen (B.P. Trading Ltd.)

The changes which have taken place in the structure of our retail petrol market over the decade or so, together with the tremendous expans10n of Britain's vehi.cle population, are now creating new problems for retailers in this country. Whereas pre-war some 35,000 garages were each selling an average of 24,000 gallons of petrol per year to about 1.9 million motor cars, there are now approximately 9.2 million cars to be served by only 39,000 retail outlets.

Within the motor trade the old multi-representation stations have almost disappeared and solus sites, selling one oil company's grades, have emerged. The once stable market has now become highly competitive, with new companies selling at full or discounted prices in competition with the older established ones for a share of the country's business.

This picture is a fairly general one in Western Europe, where the restrictions on the creation of new outlets has made it essential for retailers to expand existing stations in order to dispense ever increasing annual throughputs. This situation has also been seriously aggravated by such well known characteristics of our modern socio-economic development as the gradual decrease in qualified forecourt labour, increasing distribution costs, fixed profit margins and the trend towards shorter working weeks and greater leisure time.

What then are the specific problems which are confronting the petrol retailers ? In the first place, an ever increasing load will be placed on his refuelling facilities by the vast expansion of the number of consumers. By 1970 it is estimated that there will be 13.6 million motor cars on the roads of this country, all requiring fuel and service from the motor trade.

What solutions are there for the filling station operator ? He can extend his forecourt and install extra facilities, but land is often very costly or just not available. For this reason we have turned to the re-organisation of existing forecourt layout and refuelling as a sol11:tion. For example, at a small station with pump island offering two refuelling pos1t!ons, 1t be possible to introduce a triangular shaped eqmpped with a central blending pump incorporatmg a rotatable boom arm and computer, to serve all grades to all. three re-fuelling positions. The blending system used first of these completely new dispensers, of is installed at a BP station in Datchet, Buckmghamshire, mixes a high and low octane petrol drawn from tw? separate tanks and low fuels, by altering the proportion a number or of the high and grades as well as the two basic ones. The dispenser mcorporates tl!e latched automatic cut-off nozzle, which when hooked m the open position in the car's fill pipe, can free the to carry out the cash transaction, attend to other services on the car, and if required serve two at the sa!ne time. The combination of improvements .111 refuelhng speeds and savings in labour costs are mcorporated in this unit are completed by a device on the end of the boom arm which allows the attendant to preset the tities to be delivered by value or b)'. full tank. A bu_ilt-m cash register and air and water are also The result of such a development is that the traffic handlmg capacity of the forecourt can be in?reased an of 30 cars per hour for a conventional one. LS!and stat10n with one salesman to 48 cars per hour. This is compared to an average of only 50 cars per hour for a two island station with two salesmen.

Land consuming pump islands, which are in fact forecourt obstacles, have been done away with entirely at some stations in Japan. Dispensing systems consisting of overhead hose reels, submersible pumps and remote read outs are improving the vehicle handling capacity ?f the smaller forecourts by 30 % or more. The reach afforded by the longer pump hoses permitted in many countries abroad does of course afford far greater flexibility to such a system.

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Another of the retailer's problems is the rise in unit merchandising costs, mainly caused by increased labour rates. As in other trades, self service is providing a solution since it enables the retailer to achieve a reduction in bis expenses by a saving in labour. Few of us have not used cafeterias, vending machines or grocery supermarkets, and this technique has become so popular that it is already part of the modern way of life. There is no waiting for service, one bas freedom of selection, there are no sales pressures, and in the majority of cases an attractive financial benefit.

The cashjer controlled or post-payment type of self service, which was fostered in Sweden where labour is short, tbe forecourt salesman's job unattractive in cold climatic conditions, and the people used to the benefits of serving themselves, is perhaps the most popular form of this technique in use in motor spirit retailing today. It is not, however, the universal answer, since it is essential that petrol throughputs should be big enough to justify the price reductions given. Nor is it a "tin shed" development, for the equipment itself is expensive and one has to consider such additional on-costs as canopies and ancillary self service equipment. The introduction of the new Selective Employment Tax, along with other social and economic pressures may serve to popularise this form of marketing and increase the demand for it from the motor trade.

The number of closed filling stations which show up in the beam of the motorists' headlamps at night is another cause for concern. More and more motorists are travelling during this time and many have just cause to glance anxiously at their fuel gauge as mile after mile they pass the darkened forecourts.

One solution would be to convert "Closed for Petrol" signs to "Open for Coin Operated Self Service". Two systems are available here. The first is a simple single unit accepting two half-crowns giving just under one gallon of petrol. This only really provides an emergency service which is often insufficient since the motorist frequently requires more petrol and the dealer loses the opportunity of a bigger sale. The second device, which BP bas developed so successfully in Germany, can accept and accumulate three denominations of coins. This takes night operation out of the realms of emergency service, especially in countries with high value coinage. In both cases the pump itself can be used normally during the day. Applications have been successfully made to a number of Local Petroleum Officers in Britain for permission to install such units, and we are convinced as our German experience has shown, that the risks in the operation of these machines are no greater than with manned stations.

The greater individual value of bank notes, and the smaller quantities which the biggest coins in certain countries can buy, have made us turn to the development of note accepting machines capable of operating a number of motor spirit pumps. A photo-electrical recognition process verifies the validity of the note presented and releases a fixed pre-set quantity of petrol. It is essential in all these developments, no matter how technically brilliant they may be, that they are developed to suit their operational environment. For this reason BP has had the one pound note acceptor, which it is to install at Watford, adapted to dispense one pound's worth of motor spirit or ten shilling's worth with four half-crowns change. At Pulborough and at Horsham in Sussex permission has been obtained for BP to install one pound machines on an unattended basis, the first one coming into operation in August of this year. It is not difficult to envisage such machines operating fully automatic filling stations in the not too distant future.

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