Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has said that the cost of living is partly to blame for a sharp rise in drive-offs.
Her controversial view – making excuses for drive-offs – was expressed in an interview on LBC with Nick Ferrari. which was later reported in the Daily Telegraph.
Thieves have reportedly stolen an average of £200,000-worth of fuel every day since the start of the Iran war, according to Forecourt Eye data, while the conflict itself has led to a surge in pricing.
Fahnbulleh told Ferrari that the rise in crime showed that people were “under huge pressure with the cost of energy”.
Fahnbulleh said: “We’re very, very conscious of this issue, and this is something that obviously we’re working on alongside the Home Office, who in the end will be the ones dealing with crime, any sort of theft.
“But it speaks to the point that, you know, people are under huge pressure with the cost of energy, with the cost of fuel. We are monitoring the cost of fuel very, very closely … We understand that the cost of fuel is far too expensive and that people are really worried about it.”
Ferrari countered by saying the drive-offs were “just plain criminal activity”.
Fahnbulleh replied: “It is, it is. So I was speaking to the issues that many of your listeners will be really worried about, which is the cost of petrol, and they’ll be thinking about that both now and going into the winter months.
“But yes, it is theft and we’re seeing different forms of theft across the piece. We know we’ve got, for example, an epidemic in shoplifting and that’s something we’re absolutely trying to get a grip of.
“There is never any justification for it. But what I am particularly exercised about is the thing that many of your listeners will be – which is the cost of fuel, which we know we need to get a grip on.”
