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5,100 petrol thefts reported in two years across the Black Country

Thieves have driven off from petrol stations in the Black Country without paying for fuel more than 5,100 times in the past two years, new figures reveal.

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Sandwell Police reported the highest number of thefts between January 2013 and April this year.

The borough was closely followed Walsall and Dudley, with Wolverhampton recording the lowest number of thefts – known as bilking – during the time period, according to the figures released through a Freedom of Information request. There was a total of 5,186 fuel thefts reported in the Black Country, which works out as an average of around 126 a month.

It has been estimated that across the country the crime is costing retailers around £30 million a year.

Chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) Brian Madderson said: "It's pretty dire. It's not a victimless crime, the retailers are the victims.

"This is a very costly crime especially when a large cost of the theft is Government tax and we cannot get that back from the Government."

Mr Madderson said that one of the reasons behind the crimes can be when garages become known for being 'easy targets' and will be repeatedly targeted unless someone is caught.

The British Oil Security Syndicate – BOSS – campaigns to reduce crime on Britain's service station forecourts. Executive director Kevin Eastwood said: "Losses from forecourt crime are at an unacceptable level. Anecdotal evidence from other parts of the country indicate that incidents where people drive-off without paying are in decline, whereas incidents of people claiming to have no means of payment, promising to pay, but then don't pay, are now more of a problem than drive-offs."

There were a total of 13,970 thefts across the West Midlands Police force area between January 2013 and the start of April this year.

Of these 2,088 were in Sandwell, 1,052 in Dudley, 1,060 in Walsall and 986 in Wolverhampton. During the same time period, there were 5,685 thefts at petrol stations across Birmingham.

In February, it was revealed that police officers in Willenhall had been told to refuel their marked cars at the Morrisons supermarket petrol station in Middle Piece Way to deter thefts from taking place after it was identified as a hotspot for crime. The force has also been using a 'bilking panda' – a marked car parked at the forecourt to act as a deterrent.

Bilking has also been a problem in Staffordshire where police have been taking action to reduce number plate thefts because detectives have found the two crimes are linked. Thieves have used stolen registration plates on cars to avoid being caught after driving off without paying for fuel.

Police have have issued anti-theft number plate screws in a bid to curb the steady rise in the crime. These are used to fix plates in place to make them harder to remove.

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