Fuel theft set to bring £23m annual bill to forecourts

Soaring fuel prices have led to a significant increase in drive-offs and no-means-of-payment (NMOP) declarations, with data indicating the total value of fuel taken could be as much as £23m in 12 months.

The figures come from a representative sample of 550 petrol stations kitted out with Forecourt Eye’s fuel theft prevention systems, and reveal that every day those sites experienced 59 NMOP declarations, costing £5,800, and 133 drive-offs, costing £7,381.

Overall, petrol and diesel thefts and no-means-of-payment incidents have risen by 17% compared to the period before the Iranian conflict began.

Extrapolating this data to the UK’s 8,338 forecourts indicates £23m of petrol and diesel would be taken a year via NMOP and drive-offs over 12 months, with 2,900 incidents a day – though operators could expect to recoup much of this via debt recovery processes.

The sample sites show that diesel thefts and NMOPs have risen at almost twice the rate of unleaded incidents from March 1 to October 31 this year, compared to the previous eight months, from July 1,2025 to February 28, 2026.

The volume of diesel drawn before drivers make a no-means-of-payment declarations has risen by 27%, three times the 8% increase recorded for petrol.

With the price of a litre from the black pump rising by around 55p since the Iranian conflict began in late February this year, the value of fuel drawn during thefts and NMOPs has surged by 60%, with a 27% increase in the value of petrol taken.

Across both fuels, the 550 sites lost 7,185 litres of fuel a day in the eight months from March to October, compared to 5,942 litres a day in the previous eight months. Over the same period those forecourts saw fuel worth £13,181 taken each day, up from £8,841.

Breaking these incidents down by type, 550 forecourts recorded 133 drive-offs a day with a volume of 4,064 litres and a value of £7,381 (up from 12 incidents, 3,795 litres and £5,6433), while there were 59 daily NMOP declarations with a volume of 3,121 litres and a value of £5,800 (up from 44 incidents, 2,148 litres and £3,208).

While petrol models remain the vehicle of choice for new car buyers, the UK consumes significantly more diesel due to freight and trade’s reliance on the fuel, at 27.7bn litres last year compared to 18.3bn for unleaded.

That correlates to the 5,001 litres of diesel taken each day via theft and NMOP at Forecourt Eye’s sample sites in March to October this year, compared to 2,168 litres for petrol, respectively up from 3,943 litres and 2,001 litres in the previous eight months.

Michelle Henchoz, managing director of Forecourt Eye, says that “what stands out in these latest figures is the difference between diesel and petrol, and the sharp increase in motorists declaring they have no means to pay”.

Henchoz adds that while “not every no means of payment is deliberate”, they all create “additional work, financial exposure and the challenge of recovering money owed”.

She adds that “Britain’s forecourt operators and their frontline staff are still very much in the eye of the storm.”