Fuel theft is on the rise as petrol prices soar due to the oil supply disruption in the Middle East as a result of the Iran War.
Police have released CCTV footage of a woman in her pyjamas filling up her car at two petrol stations before ‘driving off without paying’ in Gwyedd, north Wales.
This is one of a number of recent incidents as fuel costs soar across the globe because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran – a vital shipping lane which normally hosts 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply.
UK pumps have seen an 18 per cent rise in price for petrol and as high as a 34 per cent rise for diesel, according to the latest government figures.
The alleged thief who was wearing pyjamas is said to have filled up her silver car at Garej Ni in Pwllheli and Prysor Service Station in Trawsfynydd over Easter.
Judith Troughton, owner of Prysor Service Station, the theft was ‘awful’ and claimed that £50 worth was stolen from the forecourt on Easter Monday. North Wales Police have said they are investigating the spree of thefts.
Fuel theft like this has soared by 28 per cent since the Iran War began on February 28.
Petrol station managers are reporting a surge in No Means of Payment (NMoP) incidents – when a customer fills up their tank and tells the cashier they are unable to pay.
This method of theft is favoured by fuel thieves as they are treated as a civil matter in the eyes of the law, while drive-offs are a criminal offence.
Michelle Henchoz, director at surveillance firm Forecourt Eye, told The Mirror: ‘They think the police are not going to go after them. But when you get a repeat offender that keeps doing it, that becomes fraud, so it does become a criminal matter.’
Police hunted down another alleged petrol thief who struck a petrol station in North Yorkshire.
He is said to have made off without paying for a full jerry can at Scaling Dam Filling Station in Easington on March 26.
Officers said: ‘It is believed he had been driving a dark blue Ford and had run out of fuel in the Grosmont area before getting a lift to the filling station.’
CCTV footage was released online by cops who later said they had identified a man in connection.
Thefts like these are more difficult to trace as they evade number plate recognition systems, Ms Henchoz said. She added that some people even walk up to pumps with Coca-Cola bottles and simply walk off.
‘Bilkers’ are turning to old school methods and targeting unattended vehicles and siphoning petrol tanks. Some are drilling holes in the side of petrol tanks to bypass anti-siphoning technology, according to reports from Clacton-on-Sea.
James Hemingway found this out the hard way when he said his Bradford-based drainage firm WCG was hit by thieves who stole £2,500 of fuel from two lorries last week.
Police in Grantham re investigating the theft of 25,000 litres of diesel stolen from a haulage firm last month when hidden pipes were discovered draining the company’s tank. They led back to a vehicle parked in an A1 layby across the countryside.
It’s not just petrol and diesel that are being targeted by thieves either as Suffolk Police warned that heating oil was under threat too, being siphoned off to sell on the black market or used.
Two properties were hit by bandits after heating oil in the Woodbridge area in March, with the force issuing warnings to residents to protect their oil ‘following current price rises’.
They said hiding fuel tanks from the road, installing CCTV and alarms and properly locking tanks in secure storage compounds are the best way to defend against thieves, as well as immediate reporting of suspicious activity.
