The other week I gained another – admittedly unwanted – trucking experience; I had a tank full of fuel stolen while I slept. I was doing a sleeper cab test in a top-of-the-range Mercedes Actros GigaSpace when the incident happened at Woodhead, in Derbyshire.
It was the conclusion of what was a fraught day when one minor issue after another led to me running very, very late. I had considered parking for the night on Saddleworth Moor, but felt I would be too close to the road. Woodhead, I thought, ticked all the boxes for me; close to where I needed to return the truck to, quiet and I knew a spot where I would be away from the road. And I could get there within my driving time.
So that’s what I did. There was me fretting I wouldn’t get a space, oh how I wish it had been rammed! Parked up, I had my tea, read a book and it was soon time to settle in for the night. The cab was lovely, it was roomy and had a very comfy bed. The only fly in the ointment was when a fridge truck pitched up at 03:00 for the driver to take his 45, with fridge motor running. That woke me up.
Sadly the fuel thieves didn’t.
Come the morning, I woke, did my walk round checks, closed my trailer’s back door, and as I walked around I noticed what looked like a fuel leak. Surely not? But I feared the worst. The penny was dropping… I fired up the truck, and sure enough, my dash was showing about 1/12th of a tank. I was gutted. My so-called quiet spot was, it seems a regular place for fuel thieves. And with that benefit of hindsight, I can see why, it’s quiet and dark, and they – probably won’t get disturbed, yet it’s only about 20 miles from Manchester, Huddersfield or Sheffield. It’s a prime spot for this activity.
I phoned Jamie at Mercedes to seek advice, I thought in my mind I had just enough fuel to get the 15 miles back to Barnsley. But I wanted reassurance. I couldn’t take the risk of setting off in the hope I’d make it. If I ran out of fuel climbing a hill on the Woodhead Pass I would bring this congested, single-carriageway road to a grinding halt in the morning peak. Plus I may not have a phone signal to call for help.
However, reassured by Jamie that I would get back, and if I wasn’t back within an hour he’d send someone out with a gallon or two of diesel, I set off. Luckily I did make it so at least that wasn’t as bad as I feared it could potentially have been!
While waiting for Jamie to ring me back, I bought breakfast at the newly-arrived burger van and the lady said there’d been a spate of fuel thefts here recently. I also rang my wife, and she made a very good point; “what exactly could I have done if I had been awoken and decided to confront by the thieves?”
She was right; if there had been a gang of them – I assume it was at least two, possibly three, thieves who do these robbing runs – I could have had a good kicking for my trouble if I had tried to take them on. They might have been ‘armed’. We’re probably not talking shotguns here, but they could have had knives? They would have undoubtedly been bigger and more agile than me and I was never good at fighting!
I guess I could have started the engine and that might have made them scarper. But it could have exacerbated the situation. Or it might have simply been best to let them go, and see, admittedly unlikely in the dark, if I could get a van registration or something.
I’ve spoken to many hauliers recently about fuel thefts, and many say they don’t bother with anti-siphon devices or even lockable fuel caps. That might sound like madness, but there is some logic – they say the thieves either break them off and damage the tank, or simply drill through the tank and let the fuel spill out. So, as well as getting the fuel nicked, they get a whopping bill to replace or repair a fuel tank.
I can’t help thinking there has to be a way to make a fuel tank that thieves just can’t get into, or a way of protecting them better so thieves just don’t bother any more. And it’s not just remote spots like Woodhead where fuel gets stolen, it’s in industrial estates, truckstops, motorway services, pretty much anywhere a truck parks up for the night which isn’t in a 100% locked area.
It’s just another challenge truckers have to put up with in their daily job. And I bet few people ever get caught stealing fuel, and fewer ever get properly punished for what they may see as a victimless crime, but it’s actually anything but.
So my advice is try to park where there is minimal risk of getting your truck tampered with. Sadly that is not always possible.
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