Fuel thefts have plummeted 40 per cent at a western suburbs service station using a new system that tracks repeat offenders.
Phillip Macumber, of BP Calder Park near Hillside, co-designed Driveoff Sentinel in the face of “chronic issues” of fuel drive-offs at his service station. He has been trialling the new system for more than a year.
“If anyone does a petrol drive-off anywhere in Melbourne, it goes into our system,” Mr Macumber said. “So when that car or those number plates enter the petrol station, those who are using our database get an alert and it means we don’t serve them or lock the pump they’re at.”
Fuel with an estimated value of $25,000 was stolen from Mr Macumber’s service station in the year ending June 30, 2014. This figure dropped to $15,000 in the past financial year.
Driveoff Sentinel is being trialled at seven locations.
Mr Macumber is planning to have the technology tested more widely across the state and hopes incidents of fuel theft will decrease even further.
Last week, new research from the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) revealed fuel thefts were costing the state more than $4.2 million a year, while a lack of police response had discouraged service station owners from reporting the crime.
While service stations in Ardeer topped the list for having the highest rate of fuel drive-offs, Burnside, Caroline Springs, Plumpton and Hillside made it into the top 20. More than 170 Victorian service station owners were surveyed.
VACC executive director Geoff Gwilym said the survey results showed almost a third of all fuel thefts were not reported to police, and three-quarters of service stations were victims of regular drive-offs. He said two years ago, police stopped investigating incidents that didn’t involve stolen cars or number plates.
“In an industry where margins are very low, often around two per cent, the added impost of fuel theft is a significant cost for many independent retailers and can threaten their viability,” Mr Gwilym said.
“This is concerning as official government statistics show a declining trend of fuel theft, when in fact one-third all of thefts are not reported by service station owners.”
For more information about Driveoff Sentinel, call 0407 534 458.
