News3 mins ago
Fuel Theft Is No Longer A Crime....
40 Answers
...... but a civil matter for the retailer to pursue
http://
what's next - shoplifting? burglary?
http://
what's next - shoplifting? burglary?
Answers
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Mikey, the police are saying here that a customer making off without paying was not considered fraud or an offence if there was no indication of intent, such as the use of false number plates but would respond if the intent to steal was obvious. In this particular report, the driver of the car did return later and pay for the fuel which is very common. Fuel stations can contact DVLA for the registered owners details and request payment etc but more often than not the garage staff are routinely instructed to report all matters to the police for them to deal only to find out that most were genuine errors.
Orderlimit...if all the drive-aways were people that simply forgot, and returned to pay later , there wouldn't be a problem.
But I suspect that most of these drive-aways are theft, pure and simple. If the Police applied their kind of logic to shop-lifting, it would give the green light to every thief in the country.
As I said, the Police should stop this continual moaning and get on with the job in hand. If they say that they can no longer afford to do their job properly, for lack of funds/resources, then they should raise the issue with the Home Office and their local Council.
But I suspect that most of these drive-aways are theft, pure and simple. If the Police applied their kind of logic to shop-lifting, it would give the green light to every thief in the country.
As I said, the Police should stop this continual moaning and get on with the job in hand. If they say that they can no longer afford to do their job properly, for lack of funds/resources, then they should raise the issue with the Home Office and their local Council.
Mikey, this particular news article is slightly misleading. We all know theft of fuel is a massive problem, but there is also a massive problem with garages trying to report civil disputes as crime and this is what I think the police spokesman is trying to politely get across.
In mmy view, how the police generally deal with burglary / domestic burglary is shocking and theft from shops is going the same way.
In mmy view, how the police generally deal with burglary / domestic burglary is shocking and theft from shops is going the same way.
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Actually, what Rose is trying to do also has similar problems for the police but in reverse. She (or more likely He) will con some individual out of £5k + but take calculated care to keep all communications inside of civil law (after he /she has sufficient personal information to bl*ckmail or make reporting the matter very unattractive).
A load of police time is wasted in this way with so called restaurant bilking as well.
I have to say it happened mostly with Indian restaurants in London.The Chinese restauranteurs would solve their own problem within by calling for the cleaver wielding chef to step out of the kitchen.
A dispute would sometimes arise about the quality of the meal and the manager would be called after a small part of the meal had been consumed by the customer.If the manager refused to change the meal or resolve the situation the customer would sometimes refuse to pay as is his right.
The manager would then call the Metropolitan Debt Collection service.When the customers view was heard he would be asked if he had the means to pay for the meal. If he clearly had then the officer would give the name/address of the customer to the manager and inform the manager that it was a civil dispute and explain his civil remedy.This would rarely satisfy the manager as he wanted his money the easy way there and then and would not accept that this was the law in this country.Even after no arrest was made a lengthy report had to be submitted and recorded in case the dispute did reach a Civil Court which,of course it never did. A total waste of police manpower and time.
I accept that a police officer would have to attend to determine if the customer actually had the means to pay and take what ever following action was necessary. Send a Blunkett
Most Garages have CCTV.Perhaps Mr Blunkett's useless uniform carrying bobbies who have no powers should be replaced with real policeman with real powers to tackle these problems in the first place but then they would be used in tackling anti austerity demos in various towns in the UK etc.
I have to say it happened mostly with Indian restaurants in London.The Chinese restauranteurs would solve their own problem within by calling for the cleaver wielding chef to step out of the kitchen.
A dispute would sometimes arise about the quality of the meal and the manager would be called after a small part of the meal had been consumed by the customer.If the manager refused to change the meal or resolve the situation the customer would sometimes refuse to pay as is his right.
The manager would then call the Metropolitan Debt Collection service.When the customers view was heard he would be asked if he had the means to pay for the meal. If he clearly had then the officer would give the name/address of the customer to the manager and inform the manager that it was a civil dispute and explain his civil remedy.This would rarely satisfy the manager as he wanted his money the easy way there and then and would not accept that this was the law in this country.Even after no arrest was made a lengthy report had to be submitted and recorded in case the dispute did reach a Civil Court which,of course it never did. A total waste of police manpower and time.
I accept that a police officer would have to attend to determine if the customer actually had the means to pay and take what ever following action was necessary. Send a Blunkett
Most Garages have CCTV.Perhaps Mr Blunkett's useless uniform carrying bobbies who have no powers should be replaced with real policeman with real powers to tackle these problems in the first place but then they would be used in tackling anti austerity demos in various towns in the UK etc.
I would suggest that in view of the fact that certain police forces are determining what is or is not a crime on their patch, local business owners get together & hire their own police force ( the government are apparently doing this already in the Prison Service by hiring a private company called G4 to monitor prisons).
Fuel stations are encouraged to work with the British Oil Security Syndicate (BOSS) and use their forecourt watch and non-payment watch schemes.
"We build beneficial working relationships that can bring fuel retailers, oil companies, police and crime-fighting agencies together by working to common goals. BOSS schemes have been shown to reduce demands on police time and provide more efficient ways of working."
Yes, restaurants are another one Retrocop, and taxis, catalogue companies, loan sharks etc.
"We build beneficial working relationships that can bring fuel retailers, oil companies, police and crime-fighting agencies together by working to common goals. BOSS schemes have been shown to reduce demands on police time and provide more efficient ways of working."
Yes, restaurants are another one Retrocop, and taxis, catalogue companies, loan sharks etc.
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