Eighty-five percent of fuel thefts from petrol stations in South Yorkshire go without prosecutions being made a Freedom of Information has revealed. 

South Yorkshire Police said they are working to improve the rate of thefts which have topped 10,000 in the last four years.

The BBC report:

In 2011 there were 1,910 reported fuel thefts from petrol stations in South Yorkshire, of which 289 cases were detected by police.

Charges were brought over 124 of the thefts, with the remaining 165 offences resulting in a caution or warning, or being taken into consideration.

Collette Bates, who manages a petrol station in Sheffield, said: “We only make about 3 or 4p a litre on fuel… so if they’re stealing £30 or £40 worth of fuel a day we’re not making any profit, we’re losing all the time.

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.