Service stations in Ardeer, Keilor and Keilor Park are each being hit by petrol thieves nearly 200 times a year.
A Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce survey of 170 Victorian retailers over the past year found the three suburbs had the highest number of fuel thefts in metropolitan Melbourne.
In June, Star Weekly quoted a United 24 franchisee saying thefts were costing his Taylors Lakes service station up to $12,000 a year with a drive-off almost every day. VACC spokesman David Dowsey said thefts were costing those Brimbank stations almost $1000 a month.
“They reported an average of four thefts a week, or 16 thefts a month or 192 thefts a year, and the average cost of the fuel stolen varied between $700 and $900 a month,” he said.
A third of all fuel thefts went unreported because they were rarely dealt with by police.
“There could be an understanding among certain peer groups in these areas that if you commit fuel theft you are unlikely to be caught or prosecuted by Victoria Police, so this may promote a greater tendency of theft in these areas,” Mr Dowsey said.
“Fuel theft is no longer classified as a criminal offence by police. It’s considered a civil matter now, so police generally don’t get involved in investigating offenders unless the vehicle has a stolen number plate. This means that many service station owners are discouraged from reporting all incidents of theft.”
However, Sunshine police’s Inspector Dave Byrt disputed this view and encouraged station owners to take “reasonable steps” to prevent theft. “This is not the case,” he said. “Police don’t ‘classify’ offences. However, our role in the first stages of any investigation is to determine whether or not a crime has, in fact, been committed.
“Fuel theft is an offence that police continue to focus on, with a number of recent operations being conducted across the Brimbank and Melton areas. I would add that fuel theft is a significant issue for police in terms of time and energy focused on same.”
The highest rate of fuel theft occurs in Melbourne’s north west, the VACC believe.
