Farmer fuming at fuel thief

SUSPECT: CCTV footage from Waiorongomai Station shows a man walking towards a ute containing drums of stolen petrol, pumped from the farm's supply.

A South Wairarapa farmer is calling for neighbours to be extra vigilant after a "brazen" night-time thief pumped an unknown quantity of petrol from his farm supply into drums on the back of a ute.

Waiorongomai station owner Charlie Matthews said it was the third petrol theft from his farm in four months.

It prompted him to install security cameras and fit extra locks to his farm bowser, but the thieves have broken the locks each time.

The CCTV footage from Saturday night, which he has forwarded to police, shows a ute with three large drums on the back, and a man walking to the vehicle.

Mr Matthews said he fills the farm supply once a month and it had probably been half full at the time.

A farm his size uses a lot of vehicles, and he would be in trouble if they ran out of petrol.

"We had over 500 litres stolen in June, another 500 litres in August and again on Saturday night - don't know the total yet," he said.

"All during the night and the last two on Saturday nights.

"It pisses you off, it really does.

"Sunday morning, you're heading out to work, there's several hundreds of dollars of fuel nicked. I've got to get the petrol tanker down here."

He hopes the CCTV photo might get a result.

"That's a hell of a weight for a ute," he said.

"Someone would notice if they were following a vehicle with three drums.

"I'm just trying to make other rural people out there aware that there are people out there doing this.

"I would love to catch them."