Public support pay at pump to counter drive-offs

Many members of the general public support pay-at-pump pre-authorisation for fuel purchases to help forecourt retailers prevent drive-offs.

Some 311 people commented on The Telegraph’s story: “Police refuse to prosecute petrol thieves as they may not be ‘having a great day’ . Petrol station owners told to pursue instances of theft through civil action as number of drive-offs increases.”

The story followed the plight of Kavita and Sanjay Pilani, who own Empire Garage in Mablethorpe, who have been plagued by drive-offs. However, those drive-offs were dismissed by a police superintendent as being committed by people who were ‘not having a great day’.

Supt Fran Harrod had told the BBC: “There is an offence of making off without payment. The issue that comes with that particular crime type is whether that is an honest mistake – somebody has filled up; they’re not having a great day and they’ve driven off – or whether it’s not.”

One person commenting on The Telegraph story said: “I drove off without paying once , I had an urgent problem on my mind, 30 mins later I realised what I had done and went back to the garage and paid. The cashier said it happens and those who genuinely make a mistake come back and pay, the rest have done it on purpose so it’s easy to spot the thieves.”

Another person said they had done it once many years ago: “I was having a very bad 24 hours and was on autopilot on the way home from a nightshift. I went back and paid when I realised.”

Many respondents were concerned that this ‘low level crime’ could lead to bigger crimes. “If you can get away with this what else will you try?”, one said.

Those in favour of pay at pump included one who said they didn’t understand why UK fuel pumps permit cars to fill up before paying. “It should be like the US where you either swipe your bank card before it starts or go to the kiosk and pay a set sum, then the pump delivers that amount.”

Another said that they hated pre-payment but if it stopped criminals, helped businesses and kept prices down they’d be happy to go along with it.

A retired police officer said: “In my experience many of the people who “forget” to pay for their petrol also forget to pay for their shopping and forget to insure their cars. They often forget that they are disqualified from driving too. They often commit a wide range of other crimes. It is simply ridiculous to decriminalise (by the back door) what is theft. It sends a message to criminals that committing crime is acceptable.”

Just one out of the 311 people who commented on The Telegraph’s story sided with the police, saying: “I have every sympathy with the police. Petrol stations should have pumps that require a validated credit or debit card before a customer puts petrol in the tank. The police have better things to do than deal with this problem. “

• Making off without payment is a crime under the Theft Act 1978. Section three of the Act says: “A person who, knowing that payment on the spot for any goods supplied or service done is required or expected from him, dishonestly makes off without having paid as required or expected and with intent to avoid payment of the amount due shall be guilty of an offence.” Unfortunately, it is the word ‘intent’ within this that can often muddy the waters.