An average of almost two petrol thieves a day drive away from forecourts in Northamptonshire without paying for their fuel, police have revealed.
New figures show the number of so-called ‘bilking’ offences across the county have fallen over the last three years.
Between April 2012 and March 2013, 753 drive-offs were reported, compared to 988 during the same period in 2010/11.
The latest figure represents a fall of 26 per cent.
Police say they are working closely with petrol stations affected by fuel thieves and are trying to gather evidence and catch drivers who are committing the offences.
They are also visiting petrol stations where there have been recent incidents to give advice and discuss prevention tactics.
Sergeant Paul Valentine said: “It’s good to see this type of crime is falling but there are still too many incidents being reported. Most people are honest and wouldn’t dream of not paying for their fuel – after all, it’s stealing and we will investigate and prosecute offenders as we would with any other crime.
“Occasionally, some people do forget and drive away without paying – if you do this, please make sure you return to the petrol station as soon as possible to pay for your fuel.
“Police and forecourt managers share information and use CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to identify the people committing these crimes – we know who the repeat offenders are and will target them.
“If anyone sees any suspicious activity on petrol forecourts, they should report it to member of staff straightaway.”