RAC tells motorists to stop ‘pushing their luck’ | Tech News

Motorists are being urged to guarantee they pay for their petrol and diesel as new statistics reveal a vital surge in fuel thefts over the previous yr.

Fresh information, sourced by the RAC Foundation, a motoring analysis charity, signifies that bilking – the act of filling up your vehicle at a petrol station after which driving away with out paying – has risen from 44,631 cases between February and April final yr to 66,378 during the identical period this yr.

This represents a 49 per cent increase, with the spike attributed to repeat offenders “pushing their luck” and gaining confidence from the notion that police forces are too stretched elsewhere to deal with this challenge.

The figures are based mostly on the quantity of requests made to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for vehicle proprietor info in relation to fuel theft. Petrol station house owners, already grappling with present financial instability, have made determined makes an attempt to observe down culprits in quite a few instances.

A current probe by industry publication Forecourt Trader found that £6.6 million price of fuel was stolen from the top of 2019 to the top of 2024. This is based on information offered by 33 UK police forces in response to freedom of info requests.

Commenting on the current research, RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding remarked: “It would be tempting to suspect that the cost of living crisis is pushing normally law-abiding people into committing this type of offence, but that would be an insult to the vast majority of people who continue to obey the law whatever their circumstances.

“Repeat criminals may properly be pushing their luck more than ever as a result of they consider different pressures on the police are such that they’re going to get away with it.”

Mr Gooding went on to say: “Drive-offs could be seen as comparatively low-level crimes within the grand scheme of issues however they’re corrosive to society, damaging to companies and finally push up pump costs for law-abiding motorists and riders.

“More is being done to prevent these crimes through adoption of better surveillance systems and pay-at-pump options, but the numbers suggest the problem has been getting worse, with tens of thousands of drive-away fuel thefts each year.

“Those tempted to refuel with out paying need to really feel there may be a actual risk of being caught and punished.”

Drivers who’re discovered guilty of making off with out cost face a most penalty of two years in jail, and/or an uncapped wonderful.

The Crime and Policing Bill, presently into consideration within the House of Commons, suggests abolishing the prevailing law that usually handles thefts of items price up to £200 in a magistrates’ courtroom, somewhat than permitting for the case to be heard in both a magistrates’ courtroom or crown courtroom.

This change would lead to a most sentence of seven years, irrespective of the worth of the stolen items.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the present laws creates a notion amongst offenders that they’ll commit store theft of items valued at £200 or much less with impunity.