You are sitting in a pub and someone suggests they can fill your car up to the brim with petrol for £20.00. How come it is so cheap, they might tell you " We work for vehicle transporters and need to empty petrol tanks for safety". You personally may not buy this generous offer of a tank full of petrol but someone will and thousands probably do.
How do they really do it? - They take your car and stick on some false number plates and pop into your friendly local filling station or garage and fill up YOUR car. They know where the CCTV camera is and are skilled in not getting caught on camera. Hoods are great camera shelters! Your car is full of petrol and it has transformed itself into a 'get away' car or some boy racers' lethal weapon.
These modern day 'Robin Hood' types seem to think that apart from lining their pockets ( to buy drugs probably ) they are helping the man in the street by filling his car with cheap petrol.
When they decide not to do the pub rounds because they have sufficient funds until the next day, they may choose to steal a car, in fact we don't know for sure whether they cut a duplicate key from your car whilst they where helping you!
Imagine waking up in the morning to find your car ... and your cheap fuel gone.
The nightmare begins. They are in a stolen car full of stolen petrol, who knows what havoc they are about to create?. Death and carnage could be the result of their fix.
Whilst I was sitting in my local petrol station, I watched innocent people going about their business. Children and elderly buying treats from the mini-mart whilst business people and parents were putting petrol in their cars and vans. I saw a car screech out, I doubt if fuel had been stolen because nothing else happened, having said that, we don't know what the company rules are or indeed the procedure in relation to the theft of petrol. Do they just call the police with as much information as possible .. or get on the their job because when the police arrive, there is nobody else to deal with the police. This means they lose far more money closing down whilst the police take statements etc, than the actual stolen petrol.
Do they bang a big red button, which in turn records the vehicle and notifies the police? But all that aside, a child or granny could have been killed. The police are now in pursuit ... it doesn't bear thinking what could happen next.
A multiple collision on the motorway, a crowd at a bus stop mowed down - because the thieves naturally want to escape arrest.
My thoughts turned to a system that could prevent the theft of petrol. In essence if something was in place to stop cars from leaving, and it was obvious that such barriers were in situ, this event probably would not exist. Bank robbery is now rare because of the CCTV and those guillotine like shutters that drop down like a thunder bolt. Okay, I accept that barriers and shutters are a total inconvenience to the 99.9% of people who pay for their petrol and are out of the question. Then I remembered an article that the Customs and Excise had fitted something called 'CatsClaw" at the docks in Dover.
I embarked upon a mission, I searched for the system and the Customs people where more than happy to boast of their new weapon to stop drivers speeding off when passengers were asked to stop for a search. The device is set into the road and operated remotely by an officer. When activated, blades deflate all tyres and immobilise the vehicle.... Simple !! Unfortunately they wouldn't tell me where I could get more information, security reasons you know.
If it is good enough for our Ports, Docks and Harbours, should we want to know why the big petrol filling stations aren't using it.?
If I were in their shoes I would say that it is better to allow someone to drive off than detain a raging bull but if they knew Catsclaw was in operation then they wouldn't steal petrol in the first place. What does it take?
A channel across the exit route for the catsclaw to remain safe until activated and some effective signage.
Obviously thieves would look for other exits and some outdoor landscaping would easily fill those.
We all want to protect our family and friends from lunatics driving with stolen petrol and I don't want my petrol bills increased to pay for the cost of stolen petrol. I want the petrol stations to act now!
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Digby_Farquart
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