Fuel theft

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upsidedown

Waiting for the great leap forward
Location
The middle bit
In my local supermarket petrol station last night, overheard the assistants talking about the white transit that had just driven off with £93 worth of fuel. It sounded like a very regular event.
How hard would it be to change things so that you go to the till and pay for your fuel in advance, then go back to the pump where it dispenses that amount ?

They must be losing a fortune.
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
How about some spikes - stinger style - and a barrier, and barcode the receipts so you have to scan the receipt to get out?
 

mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
How hard would it be to change things so that you go to the till and pay for your fuel in advance, then go back to the pump where it dispenses that amount ?
They use this system in Russia... But their pumps don't stop, so you need to be sure theres enough room in your tank for the fuel (found out the hard/messy way!). I'd hope that the UK suppliers would be a little more sensible, but you never know!
 
OP
OP
upsidedown

upsidedown

Waiting for the great leap forward
Location
The middle bit
How about some spikes - stinger style - and a barrier, and barcode the receipts so you have to scan the receipt to get out?

There is a stinger strip across one of the petrol station exits near me that activates if you drive off, sure i've mentioned it on here before somewhere.

It just struck me that £93 was an awful lot of fuel and nobody seemed that surprised or bothered.
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
I hired a van last year which had a tank for over 100 litres of diesel, and that would cost that much to fill (from a normal emptyish state).
 

arallsopp

Post of The Year 2009 winner
Location
Bromley, Kent
How hard would it be to change things so that you go to the till and pay for your fuel in advance, then go back to the pump where it dispenses that amount ?


This is the way it seems to work in France. Its fine, means the credit card terminals are open 24/7, and you never have that, "Oh merde! Where's my card/card refused/card sat on" moment *after* filling up.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Why not go back to the good old days when someone served you your petrol therefore taking a few off the dole

I wondered that, and came to the conclusion (a few years ago) that it was because then you wouldn't go into the kiosk and make all those impulse chocolate/screenwash/chamois/road atlas purchases.

Now that some petrol stations have a pay at the pump card facility, people don't have to go in anyway, and it might make more sense - after all, the driver would never have to get out into the wet/cold, get their hands 'dirty', etc.

With hand held card terminals, or terminals attached to the pump, it should be easy. And drivers wanting anything from the shop could go in anyway while the attendant does the fuel.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
How hard would it be to change things so that you go to the till and pay for your fuel in advance, then go back to the pump where it dispenses that amount ?

Reminds me of a very unpleasant experience at a petrol station that tried that after the shop had closed. The guy left the speaker on permanently and was gesticulating and yelling PAY, PAY, PAY FIRST in quite a threatening manner. I'd prefer a mechanical system rather than that.
 
This is the way it seems to work in France. Its fine, means the credit card terminals are open 24/7, and you never have that, "Oh merde! Where's my card/card refused/card sat on" moment *after* filling up.


Same here in the US, I either have to swipe my card first or pay with cash inside before any fuel starts to flow.
 
I wondered that, and came to the conclusion (a few years ago) that it was because then you wouldn't go into the kiosk and make all those impulse chocolate/screenwash/chamois/road atlas purchases.

Now that some petrol stations have a pay at the pump card facility, people don't have to go in anyway, and it might make more sense - after all, the driver would never have to get out into the wet/cold, get their hands 'dirty', etc.

With hand held card terminals, or terminals attached to the pump, it should be easy. And drivers wanting anything from the shop could go in anyway while the attendant does the fuel.

Where is the profit in that? getting good service in this country is fast becoming a distant memory. Self service tills, faceless sales people crammed into a call centre over the other side of the world, internet instead of face to face.

A crying shame of course, but if someone can automate it and take the unreliable human element out of the profit chain, they will.
 

Maz

Guru
Loads of thefts going on round here lately of catalytic converters (national trend?).
They use a small angle grinder and get the things off in record time. It's the precious metals they're after (rhodium, platinum, etc).
 

longers

Legendary Member
Do they just cut the pipe before and after and have it away? Not heard of that before and it's very cheeky!
 
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