Police say they will no longer chase after motorists who steal petrol and drive away
AT LEAST eight police forces have stopped pursuing petrol station fuel theft in a cost-cutting move that could allow criminals to fill up and go, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
“Bilking” – driving away without paying for fuel – is increasingly being downgraded as a low-level crime that wastes police time and money. But the Petrol Retailers Association, representing 70 per cent of forecourts, says the crime is costing the industry £30million a year.
This month, Lincolnshire Police told forecourt bosses they would no longer attend reports of “bilkings”. It is understood the advice had been included in an internal memo for all its officers. Only aggravating factors, such as threats or violence, would yield an officer attending.
Although the force still records the crime, it has advised forecourt managers that thefts could be prevented using pre-payment systems and that recovery of the cost of stolen fuel could be pursued in civil courts.
It follows a review last year that concluded officers were effectively “civil debt collectors” because many of the offences were committed accidentally.
In a statement, Lincolnshire Police said the change was not a blanket policy, but an attempt to “focus our limited resources” to target real criminals.
Bill Skelly, the county’s chief constable, warned earlier this year that cuts meant he had to make tough choices and policing in the county would have to “fundamentally change”.
Devon and Cornwall Police were the first to stop investigating “simple bilking” in 2015. Leicestershire and Avon & Somerset forces do not attend “routine” bilkings unless there is a second offence or aggravating circumstances.
Staffordshire and Suffolk forces use “desk-based investigation” units that respond to bilking, “though not necessarily in person”.
West Midlands Police said it had “adopted the approach of almost all other forces”, adding that a crime reported online was passed to a deskbased investigation team.
Hampshire constabulary said it was “unlikely resources would be dispatched straight away” if the offence was simply bilking.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: “It’s becoming a serious problem as the police are routinely ignoring this crime. They are technically encouraging criminals to steal petrol.
“Detectives regularly come to our members’ forecourts asking for our CCTV to help them find terrorists, serious criminals and organised gangs and we regularly help them.
“But, when we have a problem with petrol theft it’s ‘sorry, you’re on your own’. It isn’t right.”
Ian Cruickshank, who runs a petrol station near Grantham, said his CCTV caught a thief stealing fuel but Lincolnshire police “didn’t follow it up”.
He said: “It was clearly a theft and a blatant crime. I had clear CCTV evidence that I was being targeted by criminals. It’s infuriating.”
‘Police ask us for help to find terrorists, serious criminals; when we have a problem it’s, “Sorry, you’re on your own”’