News that police forces are to pledge to investigate every crime and take action against multiple offenders, has been welcomed by BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate.

According to reports in the national media, more resources and time are to be dedicated to tackling reported offences, including taking action against persistent offenders, where there is a ‘reasonable lead’, such as CCTV footage or eyewitness accounts.

Bruce Nichol, BOSS operations director, said: “Unpaid fuel costs forecourt operators nearly £100m a year. We would support appropriate action being taken against persistent offenders who either claim to have no means to pay or simply forget to pay at the till.

“Annually Payment Watch deals with more than 1.5 million incidents of unpaid fuel and while the majority of incidents are a genuine mistake, there is a cohort of offenders who appear to deliberately evade paying for fuel. We know of one group who have been responsible for more than £200,000 of unpaid fuel and no action has been taken against them.”