Petrol stations seeing rise in fuel thefts

Petrol stations in the West Midlands say they are losing thousands of pounds each month due to a rise in fuel thefts, as the cost of filling up remains high.

At the family-run Clerkenleap Service Station in Worcester, Adam Marsh said it lost 900 litres of fuel in April to theft, which is treble the amount on the same time last year.

Industry body Forecourt Eye says incidents where people fail to pay for fuel are up 30% since the war on Iran started in February.

Over the same period, the RAC, says diesel is up by 48.6 pence per litre, and petrol up 25.1 pence per litre.

Mr Marsh and his family have been operating the service station for 25 years and they have seen an increase in theft over the last four weeks.

As well as drivers simply filling-up and driving away, he said they see some customers who come into the store but fail to pay for their full amount of fuel.

In the latter cases, instead of a police matter, the nature of the theft means they have to pursue the money through a civil case.

"With the increase of costs, the loss of fuel is another cost we have to cover and we can't pass the cost on to the customer," he said.

"Times are tough enough as it is."

Gordon Bulmer from the Petrol Retailers Association said: "We're seeing that the rate of these types of incidents has increased.

"Many of the businesses affected are small, family-run businesses."

Both the association and Mr Marsh are calling for a freeze in fuel duty to help businesses and customers with the price of petrol and diesel.

A Treasury spokesperson previously said: "Fuel duty is frozen until September and we're enabling targeted support for those facing higher heating oil costs.

"We're also acting to protect people from unfair price rises if they occur, and to bring down food prices at the till."

Drivers at Clerkenleap said they're certainly feeling the pinch due to high fuel prices.

Joshua Hough said: "It used to be 90 quid to fill this up, now you're looking at £130 to fill the van up.

"I'm on the road daily...its a big impact on life to be honest."

Robin Whitebeam added that the price of petrol is making him reconsider the journeys he takes.

"People have to work and if you can't get from A to B then that's the end of your financial income," he said.

Shailesh Parekh, who owns seven petrol stations across Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Sandwell said he wants fuel theft to be classified as fraud as a deterrent.

He told BBC Radio WM: "We have an incident almost every day, if it's not fuel theft it's shoplifting.

"One of my staff ran after a guy but he got run over by a van. I made a report to the police.

"The problem is, there are no deterrents so people are going to steal.

"At the moment, half of the price is tax on fuel. When people steal fuel we are paying the duty to the government but I want the government to classify it as theft from the Crown so it's treated as fraud.

"We make about 10p a litre nowadays so what can I do? Out of £1.90 I make 10p, sometimes we get lucky and make 20p. We don't want prices to be higher because it costs us more."

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