Earlier in the month we ran an investigation into the number of drive-offs reported to police. The story, based on a series of Freedom of Information requests, gained coverage in publications including The Times, Independent, Mail Online and BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Data subsequently shared by Northumbria Police warrants its own analysis, though. As the largest constabulary in the north-east, covering areas including Newcastle, Gateshead, Tyneside and Sunderland, it stands to reason that Northumbria would log a large number of drive-offs, and that is the case. Only London’s Metropolitan Police, Thames Valley and Greater Manchester constabularies posted more drive-offs.
The fact fuel worth more than £440,000 was stolen in 7,495 Northumbrian drive-offs from 2020 to 24 is in itself noteworthy, but the constabulary’s recording processes for this offence were the best-developed of the 33 forces that shared figures with us.
Each of the UK’s 45 territorial police forces has its own approach for recording these crimes. Some were unable to separate drive-offs out from overall making off without payment offences (the crime under which a drive-off falls), others were able to do so. Some forces recorded the value of fuel taken and which forecourts reported the most drive-offs, as well as being able to easily collate ‘clear-up’ tables showing how each crime was resolved.
There was, however, a general inconsistency across all forces. It was rare to find a constabulary that recorded figures for every one of the areas we asked about, and almost all forces were unable to provide at least one aspect of data, or had gaps in their recording for certain periods.
Other forces, meanwhile, may have recorded plenty of figures, but were unable to collate them within 18 hours; organisations can refuse to answer requests that would take longer than this under the Freedom of Information Act.
Northumbria’s recording system is the best-developed of any we saw during our investigation, though. Because in addition to being able to separate drive-offs from MOWPs (this shows 66% of all recorded Northumbrian MOWPs relate to fuel theft), the constabulary recorded the precise value of fuel taken each time a drive-off.
Looking at the tables Northumbria shared it can be easily discerned, for example, that in September 2020 the force was informed fuel worth £5,579.72 had been stolen in 127 drive-offs; in April 2022 that figure was £8007.17 across 138 incidents; in December 2024 it was £5228.80 during 94 crimes, and so on. The average value of fuel stolen in each incident in Northumbria, meanwhile, stands at £59.51.
Further, the constabulary’s officers frequently logged whether the fuel stolen in these incidents was petrol or diesel, and while this wasn’t consistently done (most offences simply had ‘fuel’ recorded against them), this indicates that many officers take as a robust an approach as possible when recording these offences.
It’s not all good news, though, as Northumbria’s ‘clear-up rate’ for fuel theft lacks this robustness, with over 90% of fuel-theft investigations being concluded with no suspect being identified.
Even here, though, clear and diligent reporting means there is much to be gleaned from looking at Northumbria’s data.
Taking clear-up rates for two years as comparative examples:
There are clearly significant differences between these years. While 2024 saw a 26% decline in the number of drive-offs reported compared to 2023, more than six times as many people were charged or summonsed to court compared to the previous year; police also issued no community resolution orders in 2023, but facilitated 26 the following year.
And while the 81.69% or investigations that ended with no suspect being identified in 2024 is still a huge proportion, it is a marked improvement on the preceding 12 months, when 96.27% of investigations reached this conclusion.
We asked Northumbria Police whether it considered its recording system should be shared with other police forces as an example of how such crimes should be logged. We also asked what happened between 2023 and 2024, and if anything could be gleaned from these dramatically improving figures.
The constabulary didn’t go into specific details, telling us it is “dedicated to tackling crime such as fuel theft that have a real impact on businesses in our local communities”.
The force added that it is “welcoming to see an increase in positive resolution results for this type of crime”, and that “the increase in use of community resolutions has been welcomed across the Force”.
The spokesperson said that Northumbria Police “will continue to work with businesses to prevent crime from taking place and bring any offenders to justice where incidents do occur”, and that businesses should continue “to report this type of crime to help us to build intelligence around trends and repeat offenders”.
It would have been enlightening if the constabulary had gone into closer detail on these matters, but it is entirely possible that within police circles, senior officers are now looking at the Northumbria’s data and asking if anything can be learned from it. They should be, at any rate.
