Since 2 March 2026, Police have laid over 370 charges for petrol drive offs and burglaries where diesel was targeted.
"Police are taking our response to this type of crime seriously and we are expecting that the number of charges will continue to rise," says Tusha Penny, Assistant Commissioner Road Policing and District Support.
"Unfortunately, Police is now seeing a significant increase in diesel burglary, rising from 20 offences per week at the start of March to more than 50 offences a week in April. Some of these incidents involve more than 1,000 litres of diesel.
"At the same time there has also been an increase in petrol drive offs. On average, since the week ending 1 March 2026, there had been 100 more petrol drive offs reported to Police each week. This represents a 28% increase over this time period.
"However, early indications are that last week the increase was far less.
"We've been talking with petrol companies every week to ensure we're in touch with what they're seeing and to discuss crime prevention. They are telling us they feel like things are shifting.
"Our staff have been acting swiftly to respond and the companies have been putting good prevention measures in place. I think that teamwork, by Police in response and the companies in prevention, may be starting to turn this kind of theft around.
"We urge people to continue calling Police immediately when they see any suspicious activity. I think if the past few weeks have shown anything, it's that Police will be there to respond, and quickly.
"Offenders should know we are focused on them."
"I also want to thank the people who have assisted our enquiries and the people and businesses who have had good security measures in place and have contacted us immediately. Their fast calls and their security measures have enabled our staff to quickly identify, locate, and charge offenders."
Prevention advice can be found at: Fuel shortage and crime prevention
