Cost of living crunch prompts Victorians to steal millions in petrol

Victorian drivers are some of the most prolific petrol thieves in the nation, making off with more than $21m in fuel every year. Here’s where the worst offenders are striking.

Victorian motorists have stolen more than $22m worth of fuel in the past year.

Bowser bandits are stealing more than $21m worth of fuel from Victorian petrol stations every year.

Thousands of motorists have driven off without paying for their fuel, with mounting cost of living pressures being cited as a major driver behind a spike in thefts.

New figures from the Crime Statistics Agency, released exclusively to the Herald Sun, have revealed there were 4,109 drive-offs reported in the last 12 months to March this year alone.

That’s up from 3,314 drive-offs reported the previous year, a 24 per cent jump between March 2021, when interest rates sat at just 0.1 per cent, and March this year, when the cash rate shot up to 3.6 per cent.

Motorists have reportedly driven off from petrol pumps at least 7,500 times since 2021, costing business owners a whopping $42m in profit loss across the state in that time.

That amounts to all 1800 petrol stations in Victoria footing the bill for about $1200 worth of stolen fuel every month – the equivalent of losing 4 cents off every litre of fuel sold to paying customers.

4,109 petrol drive-offs have been reported in the past year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Josie Hayden

Victorian thieves are responsible for almost a third of Australia’s $85m of stolen fuel revenue each year, with each service station losing $13,000 annually, thousands of dollars higher than the $10,600 national average.

Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association chief executive Mark McKenzie said that figure is likely much higher.

“This is a really big issue for us … It’s something we don’t take lightly,” he said.

“It is something that is grossly under-reported.”

Mr McKenzie said businesses have reported a jump in the number of thefts that coincided with rising petrol prices amid the cost of other essential items, but controlling the issue remained a sticking point for providers and police.

“The industry is increasingly using technology enabled systems to identify offenders and prevent them from refuelling at other sites via the sharing of the number plates of vehicles involved in fuel theft,” he said.

Industry insiders warn petrol theft is greatly under-reported. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

A BP petrol station at Richmond. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

Thieves in Casey were the worst offenders, with 258 recorded drive-offs in the past year.

Meanwhile there were 224 reports in Melton and 223 in Whittlesea.

Bass Coast saw the biggest spike in thefts with a 337 per cent rise from 8 reports in 2022 to 35 this year.

Owner of Apco service stations in Geelong Robert Anderson said he has lost almost $10,000 across the company’s 28 locations this year so far.

“Drive-offs have gone through the roof and are growing, and criminals are laughing at us as they drive out with our fuel to commit even more crime,” he said.

“In Police defence, they are stretched and have limited resources, so drive-offs are left in the too hard basket.”

A Victoria Police spokesman said: “Victoria Police continues to work closely with all relevant stakeholders to address petrol theft across Victoria, keep offending as low as possible, and hold offenders accountable.