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No more Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles from Esso as petrol loyalty sees a big shake up

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There is a major shift underway in petrol station loyalty, with Tesco Clubcard seeing another major blow.

It will hit Virgin Flying Club particularly hard, as they will lose their last branded petrol partner.  This follows the withdrawal of Texaco Star Rewards as a Virgin Atlantic transfer partner recently.

Avios collectors will also be hit.  This is what is happening.

From June 2019, BP is withdrawing from Nectar.  The company is apparently planning to launch a stand-alone loyalty scheme, potentially similar to Shell Drivers Club, although there are no details yet.

BP has announced that it will be rolling out more Marks & Spencer Simply Food outlets at its garages, so there are potentially some options to work with the – pretty pathetic – M&S Sparks scheme.

At the same time, Esso is withdrawing from Tesco Clubcard.  At present, you can earn Clubcard points (which can be converted to Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles) when you buy petrol or in-store items at Esso garages.  This Head for Points article explains the complex earning structure.

Esso will then join Nectar.  This is a little surprising, since Nectar is now wholly owned by Sainsburys and the main Esso retail partner in the UK is …. Tesco.

Unless there are plans to replace all of the Tesco stores at Esso garages with Sainsburys outlets, you are going to be in the weird position of being able to earn Nectar points – but not Clubcard points – at Tesco stores in Esso garages!

How can I still earn miles from petrol purchases?

For now, everything continues as usual.  From next June, your only options will be:

For Avios collectors – you will need to buy your fuel at a Tesco-branded filling station, where you will be able to earn Clubcard points which can be converted to Avios.  You can also fill up at a Shell garage, earn Shell Drivers Club points, and convert those to Avios.

For Virgin Flying Club collectors – with the ending of the Texaco partnership, your only option will be to buy your fuel at a Tesco-branded filling station and earn Clubcard points, which can be converted to Virgin Flying Club.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (47)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Callum says:

    Surely a Tesco Express in an Esso petrol station would award Nectar points on fuel and Clubcard points on in-store spend?

    I can’t envisage Tesco ever agreeing to issue Nectar points in their stores…

  • David C says:

    In Shell at the moment, there is bonus points for precisely ‘landing’ on £30, £40, £50 etc. Should say this is for vPower only.

    What’s the exchange like on Shell points?

    • Julian says:

      If its the same as last time (when it included the now disappeared Fuelsave 95) then you get for more points (500 last time) for putting in £80 of fuel than £50.

      I’m amazed this promotion hasn’t actually been banned by the Health and Safety Executive as last time I used to take several 10 litre fuel cans down to my local Shell (when it was still price competitive) to hit one of the higher targets (usually 60 litres as 70 and 80 litres required holding too much fuel in the garage and my MR2 Roadster only takes 42 or 43 litres even if I run it as low as I dare).

      • Peter K says:

        Legally your not allowed to do that as I find out at a Morrisons after using several canisters like you have several times. I agree it does seem dangerous… But van drivers can make it work legally.

      • Martin says:

        Surely you don’t need the Health andSafety Executive to tell you to stop doing what you know to be wrong.

        • Frenske says:

          How the heck do I get petrol in my grass mower. Drive on the A road 10mph with my Deer.

  • Paul says:

    BP and Esso both change their loyalty at the same time and we are supposed to believe they don’t collude! The French seem to have the right idea! Now where is my yellow vest!

    • Mark2 says:

      Wow, that is major collusion. But too late for the EU to fine them several billion Euro.

    • Aeronaut says:

      Not really. BP says to Nectar it wishes to withdraw from the scheme, Nectar then asks the other fuel companies if they are interested in joining, and Esso says yes.

  • Mark2 says:

    Yes, this is just a normal Amex limited period offer – available on some cards but not others. The big plus point is that it can be used multiple times.

    • Alan says:

      Never had it myself. Shell/BP/Esso all quite a bit more expensive than Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury’s where I am so tend to not really be that bothered about collecting points on fuel and just go for the cheapest! I quite like spending Nectar points on fuel too as rarely shop in-store and find their fuel is better priced than the food!

      • Julian says:

        Shell used to offer competitive prices on their fuel when a Tesco superstore petrol station was located within a mile or so of them but now they (Shell) in particular and most of the major fuel brands seem to have given up competing with supermarket fuel prices (this has happened in the last 18 months or so). Having said that I do know of one Esso station that is competing head on price wise with a new Asda petrol station only a mile away from them, even though the Esso station is on a busy main road and the Asda store is at the back of a large housing estate. Shell have also completely lost all of my petrol business due to now never being competitive on price and due to also having withdrawn Fuelsave petrol in favour of bog standard unleaded (same as supermarket fuel – no additives of any kind) at all of its stations within 50 miles of Central London (something to do with lack of additive facilities due to the closure of all the fuel refineries that used to exist on Canvey Island). Bizarrely you can still get Shell Fuelsave almost everywhere else in Europe with no difficulty so I suspect that Shell have also scrapped Fuelsave in much of the UK due to the fierce nature of price competition on ordinary 95 unleaded petrol in the UK caused by the supermarkets.

        The legacy petrol brands seem to have decided they will make more money from ripping off busy and time poor customers like my sister at 4 or 5p per litre more than Tesco, Asda, Morrison and Sainsbury fuel (or more like 14p per litre more on the motorway) than from selling massive volumes at competitive prices with the supermarkets. As a result of this some supermarket petrol stations are now horribly busy at most peak times to the extent that I have to put in a few litres of branded fuel and then fill up at a supermarket later at a quieter time of day if I need to get fuel in a hurry.

      • Shoestring says:

        Oh dearie me, sounds a right nightmare, Julian

  • Peter K says:

    It got extended. I think to the end of December. 2 Esso points = 1 Avios. So you’re paying 1p per avios compared to using the Esso points for fuel vouchers.

  • Mike says:

    The Promotional Period is extended to 2 January 2019 for certain Service Stations, see link on shell web site or posters on forecourts…..

  • Max says:

    Tesco will still offer clubcard points at Tesco stores at fuel stations and at Tesco branded garages.

    Article needs correcting.

    • Rob says:

      Obviously it will still issue points at Tesco branded garages. No clarity on what happens at Esso garages with a Tesco attached, especially as most people mix fuel payment with their shop payment and in theory are due Nectar and Tesco points.

      • Steve S says:

        We had Coop and BP combined I swiped both cards for points on each.

      • callum says:

        As Steve says, it’s not uncommon to use 2 different loyalty cards in one transaction. It must be very simple to code the system to give X nectar points for fuel and x tesco points for food.

  • FlyUpTop says:

    Shame as Esso was my nearest source of clubcard points on petrol spend. TBH using Morrison’s is far cheaper and still accepts amex so its not so bad.

    • RussellH says:

      My nearest garage has been Esso for years. It was always a bit more expensive than Morrisons, Asda or Tesco, but two years ago the owners sold out to EuroGarages who knocked the whole thing down, built a much bigger forecourr, added Starbucks and Subway, and increased prices for fuel massively, so they are typically 8p or 9p per litre more than the supermarkets.
      I have never bought fuel there since, but they do seem to be one of very few Esso stations that give Clubcard points on newspapers and other non fuel items.

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