Police and garages across the south of County Durham are joining forces to combat fuel thieves who make off without paying from filling stations.
They are launching a ‘Forecourt Watch’ scheme aimed at slashing the number of ‘drive off’ crimes, where motorists fill up their vehicle with petrol or diesel and then simply leave.
‘Drive off’ incidents – also known as ‘bilking’ – cost garages thousands of pounds in lost revenue each year. And research suggests those who leave without paying are often involved in other crimes as well.
The hope is that ‘Forecourt Watch’ will reduce bilking offences and also make an impact on other crimes by making it more difficult for offenders to travel freely.
As part of the scheme petrol stations will record details of offenders and their vehicles which will then be passed to the police. Requests will then go out to road policing officers to carry out observations for the vehicles and conduct checks with the DVLA and other databases in an attempt to trace the owner.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology will also be used to target vehicles on false or unregistered number plates. Offenders will be arrested and their vehicles will be seized.
One of the organisers of the initiative, crime prevention officer PC Neil Langthorne, said: "We have had versions of Garage Watch running in some of our towns in the past, but we are now launching a South Durham scheme to give a consistent and co-ordinated response to ‘drive-off’ offences.
"We are providing crime prevention advice to garages to help them protect themselves from becoming victims of this type of crime and are working with them to identify offenders. By targeting those involved in the theft of fuel we can reduce their ability to travel and commit crime."
Durham’s Assistant Chief Constable, Mike Barton pledged the force would do all it can to help combat the problem.
"This is a crime that can also be ‘designed out’ using freely available technology, such as pre-payment pumps. We are keen to work with the retailers to make forecourts safer for law-abiding customers."
The launch of the scheme was at ‘Snax 24’ filling station on North Road, Darlington ob Wednesday, February 18. All of the garages have been issued with ‘A’ frame signage promoting their membership of the scheme.
