KEY POINTS:
Petrol stations had almost one drive-off per week last month, according to a survey carried out by the Motor Trade Association.
The survey of 125 petrol stations around the country found that 455 people left petrol stations without paying.
MTA spokesman Andy Cuming said it was the first such study so finding a trend was not possible.
But he said anecdotally more and more people were driving off without paying.
"There's quite a brisk little crime wave going on here," Mr Cuming said.
He said half the petrol stations had no drive-offs at all so some of the stations were being repeatedly hit.
"As long as the value of fuel continues to rise and a service station represents, in some people's eyes, a comparatively easy hit, the danger is always going to be there," Mr Cuming said.
He said there was also a potential danger of service station managers trying to prevent drive-offs.
"You know what happened in a Manukau carpark, if you try and stop someone perpetrating a crime, you might get run over," he said.
Mr Cuming said there were calls for pre-paid pumps but that would hurt service station business.
"The brutal reality is that service stations have to rely on a hell of a lot of other things to remain in business," he said.
Mr Cuming said pre-paid customers tended to just buy petrol and not impulse buy.
"It's not necessarily frivolous stuff, it could be a loaf of bread and some milk, you know: Since I'm here, I'll get some things," He said.
Mr Cuming said the profit margins for selling petrol - between four and four and-a-half cents a litre - have not changed since petrol cost about $1 litre.
"The problem is the transaction value has gone up by double so the credit card costs have gone up. The bank manager is lending him money for 50,000 litres sitting under the ground in front of his forecourt," he said.
Yesterday senior sergeant Virginia Le Bas said there had been an increase in the number of plate thefts.
She said petrol price increases had lead to the thefts that were now an "every day occurrence".
