" Crackdown on fuel theft from garage "
Police have been told to solve a backlog of
fuel thefts from a garage on the edge of Woodley but insist this will not come
at the expense of tackling other crime in the town.
Officers will also be patrolling and working
undercover to trap criminals filling up without paying at the BP petrol station
on the Shepherds Hill roundabout.
PC Jen Banfield, neighbourhood specialist
officer for Woodley, told the Evening Post there had been 650 fuel thefts since
1999 with 22 incidents in the last month alone.
She said: “There is quite a lot of the
criminal fraternity running along the A4 corridor and they often make off from
the garage unnoticed without paying.
“There is a poor ratio of staff at the garage
to the number of pumps. They are often very busy and it is quite easy for
thieves to fill up and go.
“The computer in the kiosk does tell them when
someone hasn’t paid but it is still difficult at times for them to do anything.”
PC Banfield added many of the drivers stealing
petrol were likely to have false number plates and admitted this made it
difficult to detect and hunt down those responsible.
In the past week several sets of number plates
were stolen from cars parked in Kingfisher Drive in Woodley but the problem is
thought to be more widespread.
Number plates were taken from a Rover 218,
Ford Escort and a Citroen Xsara between April 4 and April 7 and officers are
appealing for information.
The missing plates were S349 EJW, P933 FAW and
CU52 HMK.
PC Banfield said: “The Woodley team has been
given the job of looking at the fuel thefts but this will come second to
anything else occurring in Woodley and police coverage will remain the same.
“We will begin by checking the registered
owners of the vehicles’ number plates and see if we can arrest anyone straight
away.
“When they have stolen plates it is harder to
trace and we have to rely on CCTV from the garage and hope the offenders can be
recognised.”
PC Banfield cautioned a man earlier this month
after he admitted two counts of theft from the garage in March after being
traced through CCTV and number plate checks.
Thames Valley Police have arranged a meeting
with representatives from BP to look at ways to address the problem on Tuesday,
April 22.
BP said fuel thefts from the service station
are no higher than average but was not complacent in addressing the problem.
Spokesman Mark Salt said: “We have invested
significantly in security measures at the store and constantly review and update
our security measures in conjunction with the police and our security partners
to ensure that the number of thefts from our sites is minimised.”
Source: [ getreading ]
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