Petrol stations move to pre-pay as drive-offs escalate

Garage owners are increasingly switching their pumps to pre-pay as soaring fuel prices spark a spate of drive-offs.

One owner - Lester Gray at Caltex in Tauriko, Bay of Plenty - said he made the move after losing more than $1000 from drivers leaving without paying in just a month.

He said if he had not done so his business would eventually be crippled.

"Tell me another business that could loose $12,000 a year and survive?" He said. "That's the only way we're going to stop these imbeciles from stealing from us ... It's only logical they'll drive around to see whose hasn't switched to pre- pay."

Fuel prices have risen dramatically this year and some drivers are doing everything they can to avoid paying for petrol. Tactics include altering letters and digits on number plates with masking tape, removing plates, rotating them with friends, wearing hoodies to hide faces and positioning vehicles so security cameras can't see them.

Taupo police are among those saying sky-rocketing petrol prices are to blame for an increase in thefts from service stations.

Detective Sergeant Dave Beattie said the town had seen a clear rise in the number of people filling up at the pumps and driving off without paying.

He said the thieves often make no attempt to hide their licence plates from surveillance cameras and are relatively easy to track.

Mr Beattie said if offenders think police will not bother following up on crimes worth as little as $40, they are wrong.

He said local police are taking a hard line on drive-offs - stating that they are thefts and just as serious as any other dishonesty crime.

Several other petrol stations in the Bay of Plenty area alone have also made some of their pumps pre-pay, though Mr Gray's Tauriko garage and Caltex Welcome Bay are the only ones known to have made every pump pre-pay, full- time.

On Monday, a female in a blue Mitsibishi had the nerve to smile and wave to staff as she left the forecourt without paying for $60 worth of fuel.

Mr Gray added: "Drive-offs have been around for years. They are just getting worse. In fact they've reached crisis point. The number and the amount of them has grown way out of control.

"We are simply following the rest of the world. It's now a lot easier to understand why America are prepay."

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES, NEWSTALK ZB