Fuel is stolen from cars and petrol stations

11:37am Thursday 15th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

THEFTS of fuel from parked cars and petrol stations are increasing following the rise in oil prices, police in Thornbury have warned.

Officers are dealing with a spate of oil and diesel thefts, including one incident where £70 of petrol was siphoned from a car.

Some time between 11pm on Thursday, May 8 and 9am on Friday, May 9 a thief forced open the petrol cap to a Jaguar car in Woodleigh Road, Thornbury.

He caused £30 of damage to the bodywork of the car and then siphoned off the petrol.

In a second incident, a thief got away with £890 of heating oil from a metal container in the garden of a house in Hope Road, Nibley.

It happened some time between February 21 and March 18 as the residents did not realise all 1,730 litres of their oil had been drained from the tanker until they came to use it.

In a separate incident, a motorist drove off from the Texaco petrol station in Iron Acton without paying for a full tank of fuel.

The driver filled up his silver car, with a registration number similar to W21 EFO, with £44.68 of unleaded petrol and left the forecourt without making any attempt to pay.

Thornbury neighbourhood policing Sergeant Craig Ogborne said police were examining CCTV footage from the garage and would like to hear from anyone with any information.

He added: "This is an ongoing trend and is possibly not surprising because of the increase in fuel costs at the moment.

"We are seeing a lot of localised stealing of fuel both from cars and forecourts.

"In cases of stealing oil from containers in gardens we would advice people to try and prevent access to their garden in the first place.

"Use exterior lighting and see our website - www.avonandsomerset.police.uk - for more information."

Call police on the non-emergency number 0845 456 7000 with any information on the thefts.