The number of reports of making off without payment from January 2020 to January 2025

22 April 2025

Our Ref: FOI2025/02502                                                                           

REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 Ref No: FOI2025/02502

I write in connection with your request for information received on 21 March 2025.  I note you seek access to the following information:

Request

Please tell me:

1. How many reports of making off without payment (MOWP) has your force recorded between January 2020 and January 2025? Please break this information down by month and calendar year.

2. My understanding is your force may log when a MOWP offence specifically occurs at a petrol station/forecourt. Therefore, over the same period, how many reports has your force recorded relating to people driving off from petrol filling stations without attempting to pay, colloquially known as ‘drive offs’, or driving off without paying for fuel? Please also break this information down on a month-by month and year-by-year basis. If the following addition would not cause this request to exceed the 18-hour time limit, please include a breakdown of how many of these instances related to the theft of petrol, and how many to diesel, each year.

3. Over the same period, please provide, if possible, the recorded value of the fuel taken in drive-offs, broken down month-by-month and year-by-year.

4. Please provide a resolution/clear-up report on drive-off offences over the same five years – EG numbers of summons, community resolutions, undetected etc, broken down month-by-month and year-by-year.

5. Please inform me, if possible, the names of the five petrol stations that reported the most drive-off offences for each of the five years in question, including details of the value of fuel taken from each station each year, broken down year by year.

Response

I am required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (The Act) to handle all requests in a manner that is blind to the identity of the requestor. Any information released in response to a request is regarded as being published and therefore, in the public domain without caveat.

Following enquiries within the Hertfordshire Constabulary please see our response below.

Reports of Making Off Without Payment                                                    

Date - 01/01/20 - 31/12/24                                                    

Please Note - Hertfordshire Constabulary does not always record the estimated cost of items stolen - therefore any information we could provide would not be comprehensive and accurate.

Additionally, for Question 2 in some instances there were multiple items stolen under one Crime Number. If multiple items were Stolen, the data we have provided will only show the type of Fuel that the suspect has stolen.

Total Number of Reports of Making Off Without Payment

Reports of Making Off Without Payment at Petrol/Filling Stations

Making Off Without Payment at Petrol/Filling Stations - Breakdown of Item Stolen

Making Off Without Payment – Outcomes

Top 5 Petrol/Filling Stations that have Most Reports of Making Off Without Payment

The numerical data presented in this response is an un-audited snapshot of un-published data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter please do not hesitate to contact me quoting the above reference number.

Yours sincerely
Information Rights

Hertfordshire Constabulary provides you the right to request an independent review of this response under its review procedure. If you require such a review, you must notify us within two months from the date of this letter. After lodging a complaint with Hertfordshire Constabulary if you are still dissatisfied with the decision, you may make an application to the Information Commissioner. For information on how to make a complaint please visit their website or contact them on 0303 123 1113.