Petrol station thieves nabbed when they ran out of gas

A Taranaki petrol station attendant will be offered counselling after being held up at work for the second time in as many months.

In an ironic twist, the people accused of robbing the Z petrol station in Hawera in the early hours of Thursday were caught by police after running out of fuel.

Two men, one brandishing a large spanner, had entered the shop, on the corner of South Road and Princes Street, at 1.30am and demanded cash and cigarettes from the attendant, Detective Sergeant Chris Allemann said.

A member of the public was also threatened when they would not hand over their cellphone.

The offenders stole money, one packet of cigarettes and a ‘‘whole lot of chocolate bars and ice creams’’, Alleman said.

Police spotted their getaway car driving south near Waverley at 2am but lost it when it turned down a side road.

Later, the occupants approached a farmer near Maxwell to try to buy fuel.

Two males aged 18, from Lower Hutt and Levin, and a female aged 17 from Lower Hutt, were arrested around 3.20am near Waverley in South Taranaki after running out of petrol, Allemann said.

Three people were due to appear in the New Plymouth District Court yesterday afternoon,.

Z spokesperson Sheena Thomas said the staff member - who has not been named - had been sent home to rest and would be offered counselling.

‘‘He’s the same customer service representative who was there for the last robbery. He’s pretty shaken up but he’s ok. He’s not physically harmed but you can imagine it’s not a nice thing to go through,’’ she said.

Security at the station had been increased with reinforced doors and fog cannons following a robbery last month.

In that incident, just before midnight on July 18, four male offenders forced their way in and stole cash and cigarettes after threatening the member of staff with a weapon.

In yesterday’s robbery, Thomas said the offenders got in when the attendant went back into the sta- tion after helping another customer on the forecourt.

‘‘His intention was good, he went to help someone.’’

The Hawera site was not previously regarded as being in a high risk area, but recent events may have changed this, she said.

‘‘We are already evaluating increasing the security across our sites.

‘‘The main thing here is we advise our staff not to leave the station in the later hours of night for their own safety.

‘‘Our priority is to keep our staff as safe as possible in the site.’’