BP has introduced a new app allowing fleet drivers to pay for fuel using a mobile phone, with one of the benefits said to be extra security for van drivers.
The oil giant introduced its BPme payment app earlier this year, initially aimed at ordinary motorists with regular payment cards, but now, with fuel card compatibility added, it is opening the service up to businesses.
BP says it is the first mobile fuel purchasing app in the UK that connects to fuel cards.
The firm’s UK fuel card manager Andy Allen said that one of the benefits of using the app was that drivers did not need to leave their vehicle unattended while they paid.
He said: “Around security, if you’re carrying for example a precious cargo, one of the benefits of this is that you don’t actually have to go and queue up.”
Allen said BPme would also save time for both managers and drivers.
He said, “If a fleet manager has a new driver, at the moment they need to order that person a fuel card, which can take up to 10 days to arrive, so they have to work out how they operate without a fuel card for a period of time.
“BPme allows them to send a digital version of that fuel card within 24 hours.
“For drivers, they want to be served in our service stations quickly – they don’t necessarily want to queue behind people with shopping.”
To pay using the app, drivers begin by driving to a compatible BP filling station – which the app can help them locate.
The app then takes their phone’s location data and cross references that with the BP network, to make sure the driver is at a filling station, then prompts the driver to select a pump number and obtains a list from the station of what pumps it has and which ones are currently available to make sure this is valid.
The driver is then given options to pay, with the app capable of storing multiple fuel cards to select from, then the vehicle’s registration number and mileage is requested.
After filling is completed there is the option to collect Nectar points – another driver perk, BP says – and have an email ticket sent out with the same detail as a standard till receipt, which can go to the driver and directly to the fleet manager.
The whole transaction can be cancelled at any point until the driver lifts the filling nozzle, and even then there is a short time where if they choose the wrong one they can replace it and select another.
Currently the app allows payments to be made at around 900 of BP’s 1,280 UK filling stations, and will be rolled out to more, according to the company.