Fuel retailers to blame for UK drive-away crime, minister says

Britain's crime minister has questioned whether police should bother responding to calls from petrol retailers whose customers drive off without paying, saying the retailers encourage crime by refusing to insist on prepayment at the pumps because they want more business in their shops.

Norman Baker, crime minister, also criticised supermarkets which he said saved on staff costs by using self-pay tills with lax security. "If the self-service till is next to the door, the doors are open, there are no personnel from the shop in sight, the tills are some way away, then it's an invitation to steal," he told the Financial Times.

His comments come just weeks after new figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that shoplifting is increasing in more than three quarters of 43 police force areas in England and Wales. This threatens to undermine a trend of crime levels plummeting to historic lows under the coalition.

Separate data published in January by the British Retail Consortium showed shoplifting to be at its highest level in nine years, with the average value of customer theft soaring by 62 per cent in the previous 12 months.

One of the fastest-growing offences is motorists filling their cars with petrol and driving off without paying - a practice known as "bilking". Figures obtained from the Metropolitan Police through freedom of information show that in London, the practice increased nearly sevenfold between 2010 and 2012.

Mr Baker said petrol retailers wanted to encourage customers to go into the filling station's shop and buy food and other items before paying for fuel.

"They make the calculation that by pulling you into the premises they will engender sales that wouldn't otherwise happen and accept the price for that is that petrol will sometimes be taken without being paid for," he lamented.

"The question in [my] mind is if they're doing nothing at all to prevent theft, why should the police bother responding to any calls they get? The police aren't there to provide numbers for insurance companies, that's not their function."

He adds that claims brought by the retailers "then drive up insurance costs for the legitimate businesses".

But Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers' Association, accused police and ministers of "surreptitiously trying to move [bilking] away from their area of responsibility", and explained that introducing compulsory prepayment at pumps would cause retailers a "grievous loss of trade".

"[The police] have no right whatsoever to interfere with our business model," he said. "We only live as forecourt retailers these days by dint of our shop sales. The margin on fuel has almost disappeared and the reason is the supermarkets selling at or below cost."

Although some police chiefs have suggested that austerity is to blame for higher instances of shoplifting - with one chief constable even referring first-time offenders to food banks - Mr Baker was dismissive of this idea. "I think if you look at the profile of shoplifters, they don't all fall into people who are poor," he said.

Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at the British Retail Consortium, was adamant that retailers "do not tolerate theft in any form from their stores".

"Businesses spend millions on loss prevention each year, ranging from physical security measures to staff training," he said, pointing out that the total cost of all crime to retailers was estimated at £511m for 2012/13.

Neil Saunders, managing director at the retail research group Conlumino, dismissed Mr Baker's comments as "wholly ignorant".

"Retailers spend millions each year to try and combat shoplifting," he said. "Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that some people are dishonest and will steal. Short of turning their stores into prison camps, retailers cannot prevent this."

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