TOP STORY: War on thieving drivers

These are some of the desperate measures Bay service stations are taking to stop customers driving off without paying as the cost of fuel soars.
Some Bay drivers are doing everything they can to avoid paying for petrol _ including altering letters and digits on number plates with masking tape, removing plates, rotating them with friends, wearing hoodies to hide faces and positioning vehicles so security cameras can't see them.
In the past month, the average value of petrol pump drive-offs has risen dramatically, with local service stations now saying a switch to 24-hour pre-pay is inevitable.
In one case, police are hunting a 32-year-old Bay man believed to be responsible for eight drive-offs alone in the past four months.
Senior Sergeant Ross Bielby told the Bay of Plenty Times more number plates had been stolen in the past six months than usual and he suspected increased fuel prices were a factor.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Wayne Hunter said officers were fed up with the growing number of drive-offs happening in the Western Bay.
Tauranga District Court staff were processing up to 10 cases a week.
"We are getting more and more incidents like this as the price of petrol rises. It's just too much and it's going to get worse before it gets any better," he said.
For the first time, police this week asked a local community magistrate to invoke a harsher penalty than normal to send a clear message.
Tauranga carpet salesman Benjamin Tony Bishop, 22, was not only fined $100 but also disqualified from driving for three months after he pleaded guilty to driving-off from a petrol station in Palmerston North in April without paying.
He had returned later that day with different number plates to fill up again but petrol station staff recognised him and locked the pumps before calling police.
Bishop has also been ordered to repay the $93.95 he owed to the petrol station.
Service station owners spoken to revealed they were having to take more dramatic measures to fight back.
Across the Bay, stations are using private investigator Don Munro _ who specialises in investigating fuel pump drive-offs _ to track down offenders.
Reports from his company, DCM Consultancy, are faxed to clients weekly identifying repeat offenders or number plates to watch out for.
Lynette Gillies, owner of 10 Bay Shell Service stations, said police were too busy to deal with drive-off offenders and those dubbed UTP's (Unable to Pay) _ leaving her no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She has personally gone to the homes of two offenders and wheel-clamped their cars. In both cases, they paid what they owed.
She has also switched some of her pumps to pre-pay.
David Little, owner of Caltex Welcome Bay and Caltex Otumoetai, was losing on average $80 a day to petrol thieves _ prompting him to switch to fulltime pre-pay pumps on Wednesday last week.
"Petrol is the only product you are able to take before you pay for it and now that things are changing people are finding it hard to accept. But we're all going there."
Since he introduced pre-pay a week ago, his till has been down only 20 cents.
Wayne Parry _ owner of six BP service stations including BP Pongakawa, south of Te Puke _ said drive-offs were becoming more worrying.
"Drive-offs are becoming more acceptable to criminals as the price goes up," he said.
On one occasion, a repeat drive-off offender accidentally spotted their name highlighted on a fax on the cashier counter at BP Pongakawa, which had been provided by Mr Munro's company.
Norman Mowbray, site manager at BP Pongakawa, said: "Let's just say the shame factor hit home ... and the due amount was paid up very promptly."
Mr Mowbray said the average drive-off offender selected an outside lane and chose an hour of darkness.
"And then, if the cashier's not watching, they'll jump in the car and plant boot."
Mr Mowbray said his staff got suspicious of anyone washing their car windows for too long and said all staff had been warned not to serve anyone with blacked-out number plates.
"When it's busy or long weekends it really spikes. Young ones will try it on," he said.
Shayne Eaton, owner of five BP service stations, said an increase in drive-offs was "just starting to trickle through".
Additional reporting Yvette Wakelin