Gas station owners warn of rising theft
One owner said a driver recently ‘tried to run him over’ after he attempted to stop a ‘gas-and-dash’
GTA gas station owners are warning of a rise in “gas-and-dash” thefts amid spiking fuel prices.
A year ago, Scarborough gas station owner Rajan Khanna estimates his Danforth Road-area Esso station averaged about two driveoffs a week. In 2022, that has jumped to five times per week, he said.
“As the prices go up, it could become a bigger problem because there will be more incidents and altercations,” he said, adding a driver recently “tried to run him over” after he attempted to stop them from leaving without paying.
Khanna and other station owners are calling for mandatory prepayment at Ontario gas pumps, something he said will both save the cost to police respond to thousands of gas-and-dash thefts a year, and help prevent potential injuries to station attendants.
An Ontario private member’s bill to mandate prepayment passed second reading in November 2020 but has not progressed any further since.
It’s a move that has been endorsed by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. The temptation to not pay for fuel seems to correlate with rising prices — more than $1.80 a litre in the GTA, as of Wednesday — said OACP spokesperson Joe Couto.
“We’re really concerned about that,” he said.
According to station owners and GTA police forces, gas-and-dash thefts have been a rising problem even before the current spike in prices.
Last summer, Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah estimated police have “probably gone to 21,000 gas-and-dash drive-offs” in the last five years.
Cuoto added that York Region police recently estimated spending 7,000 hours responding to and investigating gas drive-offs.
Both Halton and Durham Region police were also already reporting significant increases in gas thefts before this year. “Drive-offs are getting worse,” added OCSA CEO Dave Bryans, who said that stores are averaging around three such thefts daily.
Headed into the pandemic, the average loss incurred during a drive-off was $52 per incident, he said. Rising prices mean that has since jumped to roughly $75 today.
The problem isn’t just about money, said Jessica Friesen, who owns 14 gas stations in the Niagara Region. “People are becoming more volatile and abusive,” she said, noting that people are angry about the price “but they’re taking it out on the front-line staff, and that’s unacceptable.”
‘‘ People becoming are more volatile and abusive. JESSICA FRIESEN, GAS STATION OWNER