The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Victoria Smith
The number of fuel thefts from petrol stations across Britain has soared this year, figures show.
Petrol station forecourt owners have attempted to trace 39,563 drivers who have driven away without paying for fuel between July and September.
That is up 77 per cent on the 22,335 cases investigated during the same period in 2022, and 362 per cent on the total of 8,558 in those three months during 2019, according to data obtained by the RAC Foundation.
The motoring group says the rise could be due to ‘systematic criminal activity’.
Fuel thefts soar: Filling station operators have attempted to trace the identity of almost 40k vehicle owners who have driven off without paying for petrol or diesel. This is up 77% on 2022
The figures relate to the number of requests made to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) by forecourt operators seeking a vehicle keeper’s details having captured the registration number on CCTV cameras.
Most of the incidents are likely to relate to drive-offs – also known as ‘bilking’ – where someone fills up their vehicle with no intention of paying, and then leaves.
The British Oil Security Syndicate (or BOSS) – which campaigns to reduce crime on forecourts – estimates the practice costs each filling station across the country an average of £10,500 each per year.
The maximum penalty for drivers convicted of making off without payment – an offence under the Theft Act 1978 – is two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
Steve Gooding, RAC Foundation director, said: ‘Among all the recent media attention given to the epidemic of shoplifting, it should probably come as no surprise to find that the theft of petrol and diesel from forecourts looks to be a big and growing problem, and these figures might only hint at a much bigger issue.
‘While it may be that the cost-of-living crisis is tempting some people to risk driving off without paying, the real headache for fuel suppliers is if this is a sign of more systematic criminal activity.
‘The message to anyone tempted to bilk the service station must be “don’t fill up if you can’t pay up” because getting caught is a real possibility, and financial losses to companies ultimately lead to higher prices for us all.’
Such has been the scale of the shoplifting epidemic seen in 2023 that bosses at nearly 90 retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Boots were forced to join forces to call for a crackdown on the crimewave spanning Britain’s streets.
The 88 companies, who also include WH Smith, Aldi, Primark and Superdrug, have written to the Government to demand action as shoplifting spirals out of control.
Shameless thieves have frequently been caught on camera brazenly stealing – in cases attacking staff – with retail bosses claiming they are powerless to stop criminals.
The RAC Foundation released the figures of petrol and diesel thefts shortly after fuel price checkers raised the alarm bells that retailers are continuing to pocket higher margins from each litre than they should.
On 31 October, petrol across the UK averaged 154.5p a litre, having been at 157.1p on 1 October, the AA said.
While October’s decline ended four months of rising fuel prices for motorists, the small 2.5p-a-litre fall in a month compares with a greater reduction in wholesale costs of at least 5p a litre.
Similarly, diesel at 161.4p a litre compares with 162.4p at the start of October, once again after a fall in wholesale costs of 3p to 4p a litre.
The RAC has recently accused Britain’s biggest fuel retailers of taking an additional 5p for every litre of petrol sold to drivers.
It said the failure to pass on these savings is the equivalent to retailers pocketing the Government’s 5p duty cut brought in shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year to help struggling families cope with the cost-of-living crisis.
Instead, the RAC says the fuel duty cut is only acting to ‘help retailers who have chosen to up their margins’, which should make drivers and the Treasury ‘furious’.
