Petrol thieves banned from driving

Police have welcomed a decision by a judge to hand down driving bans to two petrol thieves.

Nelson Judge Tony Zohrab took the unusual step of imposing the disqualifications in a bid to try to curb the increasing number of fuel thefts.

Glen Morgan Charles, 28, of Motueka, was fined $350 and ordered to repay the $50 worth of petrol he stole from Kaiteriteri Store on April 9.

Morgan Raymond Anderson, 20, of Palmerston North, was sentenced to 40 hours' community work and ordered to pay $60.20 reparation for the petrol he stole from Caltex Hokitika on May 5.

In addition the judge, in the hearing at Nelson District Court, disqualified both men from driving for a month, saying he did so because their cars were used for their crimes.

NZ Law Society criminal committee convenor Jonathan Krebs said he had not heard of people being banned from driving for stealing petrol before.

"It's novel, but probably very effective way of treating this sort of theft," he told the Nelson Mail

Nelson Bays police area commander Brian McGurk told the newspaper he was encouraged by the court's decision.

About 16 per cent of all thefts in the region related to fuel.

"That's a fairly large proportion of the crime category."

- NZPA