Police refuse to prosecute petrol thieves as they may not be ‘having a great day’

Police say they will not prosecute people who drive off from petrol stations without paying because they might not be "having a great day".

Supt Fran Harrod, of Lincolnshire Police, urged petrol station owners to pursue matters through civil action instead. The senior officer stated the force had "finite resources" to investigate cases and had to prove there was intent to steal.

Ms Harrod was responding to concerns about a lack of enforcement after the owner of a petrol station in the Lincolnshire resort of Mablethorpe said drive-offs were killing her family business.

Kavita Pilani said her garage had suffered 50 thefts in six months and called on the force to "stop saying that this is not a crime" because it was "encouraging" people to do it.

Mrs Pilani, who has owned Empire Garage with her husband Sanjay for 10 years, said drive-offs had increased over time and this year had been the worst yet.

People were filling their tanks with "nothing less than £80 or £90" of fuel before driving off without paying. She said she had CCTV of suspected offenders and had reported every incident, but the police "don't do anything about it".

'Police have finite resources'

Lincolnshire Police, however, has said incidents of "bilking" – the term used for drivers who pump fuel but leave without paying – can include people who simply forget to pay.

Ms Harrod said: "There is an offence of making off without payment. The issue that comes with that particular crime type is whether that is an honest mistake – somebody has filled up, they're not having a great day and they've driven off – or whether it's not."

Ms Harrod said that officers had been sent to the garage to advise on preventative work and that the force was taking the issue seriously, insisting repeat offenders would be dealt with.

But she added: "In those high-volume incidences when one individual has left a garage without paying, there are numerous options that assist with the finite resources policing have – and perhaps more importantly for the businesses, to get them their money back."

Businesses should report fuel theft so officers can "understand the picture" and "provide preventative support", Ms Harrod said. The owners should then use a civil debt recovery route through the British Oil Security Syndicate (BOSS).

This would ensure they got their money back "within a matter of weeks", as opposed to "using huge amounts of officer hours to go round and ask people to pay up, because the police's time isn't free either".

The Petrol Retailers Association, whose members run 65 per cent of forecourts, has said drive-offs are costing the industry more than £100 million a year – about £9,000 per forecourt.

Ms Harrod said fuel theft was going up across Lincolnshire, which was why the force was concentrating on "designing out" a preventable crime.

"We've got to be as efficient and effective as we possibly can to drive that crime down across the board," she added.

'Police tend not to pursue low-value crime'

Mrs Pilani said she was aware that a police officer had visited the garage last week, though she and her husband were not in at the time. She welcomed the force's support, but questioned how they would prevent thefts in future and was confident the motorists who were driving off had not forgotten to pay.

"We are giving them [the police] the proof of the person driving off," she added. "They just need to see the CCTV recording and call the people to come and pay."

Claire Nichol, the executive director at BOSS, said: "This rise in unpaid fuel reports is primarily driven by a significant increase in drive-off incidents, where motorists intentionally leave petrol stations without paying for fuel.

"Economic pressures, including rising fuel prices and cost-of-living challenges are contributing factors, leading some individuals to resort to fuel theft. Additionally, the ease of committing drive-offs, particularly in busy forecourt environments with limited surveillance, has exacerbated the problem. The latest Index highlights the need for improved security measures to deter such crimes and protect businesses from further losses.

"We all know that nowadays unless violence is involved the police tend not to pursue low-value crime and, often treat unpaid fuel reports as a civil matter, so the police believe it's for retailers to chase the debt."

Analysis of BOSS Payment Watch, the debt recovery service for fuel retailers, estimates that there are about 1.5 million reports of unpaid fuel every year.