The owners of a small family-run forecourt in Lincolnshire have been the victim of more than 50 drive-offs in the past 10 months.
Kavita and Sanjay Pilani, who have owned Empire Garage in Mablethorpe for 10 years, say this year has been the worst ever for drive-offs, with them sometimes happening twice a day. Drivers typically take £80-£90-worth of fuel – and never less than £60 – leaving the Pilanis with huge losses.
Mablethorpe is a small, seaside town and Sanjay told Forecourt Trader he believes the drive-offs are typically done by tourists. He is pleased therefore that the summer tourist season has finished and drive-offs have stopped but he is keen to make changes at his site. He has put up notices asking for pre-payment but they tend to be ignored. Forecourt retailer Guy White has now contacted Sanjay and invited him to visit his site to see the Vars security system in action.
Sanjay says: “We have CCTV which we have recently improved and we have ANPR technology but we don’t know what to do with it. We have resisted investing in other security systems to save on costs but now it looks like we will have to. I am looking forward to going to see Guy in the next few days so he can show me how his system works.”
The Empire Garage Facebook page includes footage of drivers who have made off without paying, clearly showing their numberplates. The Pilanis say they have shared the information so that other forecourts are aware of the drivers.
Comments from Empire Garage customers on Facebook are very supportive with some regular customers suggesting that the Pilanis install pay-at-pump technology on all pumps.
However, drive-offs are not their only problem. Yesterday the shop fell victim to a brazen thief who stole vapes right from the counter by the tills.
Sanjay was serving at the till at the time. He says: “I can’t blame anyone else because it was me who was on the till. A woman put £10 of fuel in her car and came in to pay. She said she was struggling to find the money in her bag. She had a big bag, it was like a magician’s bag – she kept pulling different wallets out of it. She asked if she could put her bag down and continue looking. She was very convincing; she paid me the £10 then swiped vapes from under my nose. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it on the CCTV. We were very busy so I just didn’t see her doing it.”
The Pilanis have reported the drive-offs to Lincolnshire Police, who said there had been 385 reports of drive-offs in the county over the past 12 months.
In a statement to Forecourt Trader, they said: “Our crime prevention team works with garages on a range of measures to prevent bilking – the term used for people who pump fuel and then leave without paying – and ensure they understand the steps they need to take to help prevent becoming a victim of crime. This can include the use of pay at pump technology, so that a bank card is charged ahead of the fuel being pumped. Incidents of bilking are not always thefts, but cases of people forgetting to pay for fuel. Officers need to focus their time on investigating crimes, while the civil recovery of the debt is the responsibility of the garage, and this can be done through the British Oil Security Syndicate. We have received multiple reports of bilking from Empire Garage in Mablethorpe, and officers have considered the evidential opportunities for investigation which were available, and advised on the routes the garage can take to claim civil recovery of the debt owed for the fuel.”
