£6.5m of fuel stolen from UK forecourts in five years

At least £6.5m of fuel has been stolen in more than 130,000 drive-offs at petrol station forecourts over the past five years, new figures suggest.

Despite senior police figures warning that such offences “can be linked to serious organised crime groups”, a new investigation suggests that an average of 86 per cent of cases are dropped without a suspect being identified.

Analysis of police data obtained via the Freedom of Information Act shows there have been an average of 505 incidents every week of cars driving off without paying at petrol forecourts across England and Wales over the past five years.

That rose to a peak of 635 per week in 2022, equating to more than 33,000 such thefts that year, when fuel prices spiked to record highs. The statistics were obtained from 33 out of the UK’s 45 police forces

Full story At least £6.5m of fuel stolen at petrol station forecourts in five years, figures suggest | The Independent