Thieves have stolen fuel over 700 times from petrol stations in Kirklees in just one year – and parts of the Holme Valley, Lindley and Golcar areas among the top targets for the thieves in Huddersfield.
A total of 708 crimes of thefts and making off without payment of petrol or diesel at petrol stations were reported to West Yorkshire Police between April 30 2015 and May 1 2016, according to figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request.
The figures show a massive rise on the previous year’s figures which were 423, but police say this year’s may well come down once investigations into all of them are complete.
Yet it’s an average of almost two every day, and the data also revealed the biggest fuel theft hot spots in the area.
Now police are urging petrol station attendants to only dispense fuel if they can see the vehicle’s registration number being recorded on CCTV.
Dewsbury East was revealed as the biggest fuel theft hot spot in the area, with a large total of 167 reported incidents – up from 46 the previous year – and almost three times the amount of the next worst hit ward.
Petrol stations in Batley East made it the next worst affected area, with 57 offences reported, followed by Holme Valley North, where 52 crimes were detailed.
The least amount of reported thefts were in Holme Valley South with one and Denby Dale East with two.
Police say the figures are subject to further investigation, which could lead to re-classification or cancelled as crimes.
Here are the number of reported petrol or diesel thefts from petrol stations in Kirklees in between May 1, 2015 and April 30, 2016.
Last year’s figures are in brackets but police say the current figures are in a ‘raw’ format and once investigated this year’s toll may come down.
Almondbury: 22 (15)
Ashbrow: 43 (35)
Batley East: 57 (27)
Batley West: 10 (3)
Birstall and Birkenshaw: 16 (14)
Cleckheaton: 26 (17)
Dalton: 28 (42)
Denby Dale: 2 (5)
Dewsbury East: 167 (46)
Dewsbury South: 6 (11)
Dewsbury West: 18 (18)
Golcar: 48 (15)
Greenhead: 31 (34)
Heckmondwike: 20 (25)
Holme Valley North: 52 (21)
Holme Valley South: 1 (1)
Kirkburton: 28 (15)
Lindley: 46 (19)
Liversedge and Gomersal: 25 (28)
Mirfield: 12 (8)
Newsome: 33 (24)
Unknown: 17 (0)
Police say it’s a big issue for them.
Det Chief Insp Tony Nicholson from Kirklees CID said: “Thefts of fuel from petrol station forecourts continues to be a challenging area for policing.
“Detecting offences of this kind is reliant upon, in most cases, good quality CCTV to identify the offender or the registration number of the vehicle to identify the owner of the vehicle.
“If either of these are not available, in most cases there are very few additional lines of enquiry.
“In recent years we have seen advancements in technology, both with high definition CCTV cameras at forecourts and also police cars being fitted with ANPR (Automatic number plate recognition) technology to assist the officers in tracing vehicles and their owners.
“We do encourage forecourt owners to maintain good quality CCTV and to only serve motorists when their car registration plates are clearly visible to be captured on camera.
“It is important to remember that the numbers provided represent crimes as initially reported and recorded, and are not necessarily final crime totals.
“These figures, and certainly the ones for more recent offences, will be subject to change as the crimes are investigated.”
The news comes as petrol prices rose again.
Average UK petrol prices have gone back above 110p a litre after eight months. Diesel went above the day before, the AA reports.
Latest petrol averages show that the UK drivers are now paying typically 110.16p a litre while diesel drivers averaged 110.21p. That’s well above average petrol price which hit a low of 101.65p in March.
In unrelated investigations, police would like to speak to the people pictured in the image gallery below. The people pictured in the images may be witnesses as well as suspects. If you recognise anyone, contact police on 101 quoting the reference number on the image caption.
