Petrol thefts surge as Iran war pushes up fuel costs

Petrol theft has surged by 62% compared to a year ago, according to new figures compiled for the BBC, with one forecourt owner saying drive-offs are costing him £2,000 a week across his five sites.

The data from fuel theft recovery company Pay My Fuel comes as petrol and diesel retailers say their staff have also faced a jump in abuse because of high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war with Iran.

Since the conflict began, the cost of filling a typical family car with petrol has risen by £14, while a typical tank of diesel has gone up by about £27.

The government said fuel thieves "must face the full force of the law" while police said forces were taking a proactive approach to the issue.

Josh, a petrol retailer with five garages in the south of England, said he was experiencing about five drive-offs a week now at each garage, whereas it was previously one or two.

He shared CCTV footage with the BBC which shows the drive-offs happening at all times of day, and at varying costs to his business.

One evening a motorbike carrying two people pulls up. Footage shows the two remain on the bike as the driver puts £14.97 worth of fuel in the tank before driving off.

In another video, the driver of a white van fills up with £151.53 worth of fuel before driving away during the morning rush hour. In a third incident, the driver of a white Porsche SUV puts £75.15 of fuel in her vehicle in the middle of the afternoon, and also fails to pay.

While some of the drive-offs were people with no means to pay, Josh said most was just "pure theft".

"There just seems to be a sort of public acceptance now that theft is okay," said Josh, who did not want to us to use his surname due to the abuse he said forecourt staff had been facing.

"I'm sure there is a percentage of people that are doing it out of desperation, but the large majority is organised, pre-planned."

According to data from Pay My Fuel the number of drive-offs experienced by an average forecourt each week has risen from 2.1 in March 2025 to 3.4 in March this year - an increase of roughly 62%.

The firm, which has systems across 1,400 forecourts to help recover stolen funds, said the average value of a drive-off has risen by 46% over the same period.

"It's a lot worse," said the firm's director, Ian Wolfenden.

"An average drive-off for one of our customers used to be £56, and now it's gone up to £67. So if you consider they're losing nearly £70 every two days, it's not insignificant."

Wolfenden added the problem was three or four times as bad in less affluent areas, highlighting east and south east London, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham as particular problem areas for drive-offs.