By LAURA WAKELY
VICTORIA Police has called on service stations to act after petrol thefts increased by almost 18 per cent.
Police recorded a massive 5089 petrol thefts in the 2010-2011 financial year, with the Brimbank Police Service Area (PSA) topping the list on 510 offences.
There were 370 petrol thefts in the Whittlesea PSA, 343 in Hume, 234 in Wyndham, 134 in Hobsons Bay, 60 in Maribyrnong and 30 in Mitchell.
Inspector Mick Glowaski urged the petroleum industry to start looking at strategies to stop the thefts and co-operate with police.
“We don’t govern the petroleum industry and the petrol retailers, so it’s up to them to come up with their own individual strategies to address this,” he said.
“The current fallback position is to report the matter to police and that we’ll chase it.”
Insp Glowaski said police were only catching one in five offenders because thieves were using vehicles with stolen number plates.
He said figures had shown a correlation between petrol drive-offs and number plate theft in the North West metropolitan region
But he said the best way to reduce both crimes would be for the petroleum industry to take measures to prevent petrol thefts, including pre-payment of fuel.
“Obviously some parts of the industry indicate it’s not going to be a popular decision, but I’d suggest to you that drinking light beer a few years ago wasn’t popular either and it seems to be the norm now,” Insp Glowaski said.
Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) Executive Director David Purchase said service station owners already used pre-pay at night and installed video cameras to deter petrol drive-offs.
He said members would not support permanent pre-pay.
Brimbank petrol station manager Ravi, who did not want his surname published, said he had lost $400 in the past fortnight through petrol drive-offs.
Each of the thefts remain unsolved, but Ravi does not support pre-paid fuel use.
He said the drive-offs happened between 8pm and 5am, when the station has pre-paid as well as a “locked-door policy” to prevent thefts and robberies.
“It’s too busy in the daytime to handle pre-paid,” he said.
But Insp Glowaski said more than 5,000 hours were spent on petrol thefts, which could be dedicated to more serious crime.
He said it was time for the fuel industry to take responsibility.
“It’s better to prevent the crime in the first place rather than trying to play catch up.”
