It was only earlier this week we reported that Tom Buckley of Pricewatch Group had lodged a formal complaint over how police responded to a reported drive-off, but another forecourt operator has stuck their head above the parapet to complain that UK authorities are “refusing” to deal with the issue.
Pete Lincoln-Daniels, who runs a site near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, told Lincolnshire Live that despite fuel theft becoming increasingly prevalent, and his site having a comprehensive CCTV system, officers “are refusing to deal with it and are saying it’s not part of the police efforts anymore”.
He added: “Every time it has happened it has been a different person. We’ve got CCTV, it’s all recorded, its clear, the faces are clear, the registrations are clear, the amounts are clear.
“It’s clear that they are doing it, we have all the information, but it’s the police that aren’t doing anything about it. We are doing everything in our power to combat it.”
Lincolnshire Police told the newspaper that its crime-prevention team “works with garages on a range of measures to prevent bilking”, but added that “Officers need to focus their time on investigating crimes, while the civil recovery of the debt is the responsibility of the garage”.
This echoes what Sussex Police told Tom Buckley, as it appears to indicate Lincolnshire Police doesn’t classify drive-offs as criminal matters, despite this only being the case if the driver enters the shop and fails to declare they have drawn fuel, rather than driving away from the forecourt without having entered the kiosk – which constitutes making off without payment under the 1978 Theft Act.
The force added: “Officers will consider evidential opportunities for investigations which are available, and advise on the routes the garage can take to claim civil recovery of the debt owed for the fuel.”
