The forecourt and the shop are different jobs
Drive-offs and disputes happen at the bowser. Theft and staff safety happen at the console and the door. One dome in the middle of the canopy usually does neither well: it sees the roof of a car and a bright light, and the number plate is a blur.
Night is the normal condition, not an extra. Canopy lights help the forecourt and can blow out a camera that looks straight into them. The shop camera has to work when the forecourt is bright and the aisle behind the console is not.
What we install
- Bowsers. A camera per pair of pumps, or per island, angled to see the vehicle side and the plate, not the sky. Plate readability is a lens and angle question. Our plate guide on the reference site sets out why a general camera often fails here.
- The shop and console. The counter from the customer's side and from behind, the entry, and the aisles that hold higher-value stock.
- The back of the building. The rear door, the bin area, the storeroom and any ATM or external ice machine. These are the after-hours frames.
- Recorder off the counter. Not under the till where a person reaching over can reach it. Live view from a phone uses a restream so it does not load the recorder.
What the AI layer watches for
- A person on site after you close, or in a zone you treat as closed even if the lights stay on for the bowsers. Email with the frame, cooldown so one car does not send twenty messages.
- Lines on the shop door and the rear door, logged as events with a short clip.
- People counts in the shop, so a quiet Tuesday night and a holiday weekend are comparable.
- Forecourt presence. A person or vehicle in a zone you define can be flagged. It does not issue a debt, identify a driver, or guarantee a plate is readable. If the plate camera was aimed badly, the AI cannot invent the characters.
Constraints to plan for
Fuel sites have rules about where equipment may be mounted. We plan camera positions with the site, not against it. Weather, salt air on the coast, and canopy glare are the usual picture problems. Ask us, and any partner installer, for licence and insurance details.