Levin school diesel theft: Waiopehu College van targeted amid rising costs

A Levin high school has become the latest victim of fuel theft, with diesel allegedly siphoned from a school van, leaving it “virtually empty”, amid rising fuel costs.

This comes after at least three other major fuel thefts were reported in the past month alone, with one involving 3000 litres of diesel.

Waiopehu College principal Guy Reichenbach told the Herald that diesel had apparently been siphoned from one of the school vans during the recent school holidays.

“They’re usually just parked in the school grounds, so if staff or if we have sports teams or anything like that using them, then they need [to have] access to them,” Reichenbach said.

He said the school suspected the incident occurred at night during the middle weekend of the holidays.

“The caretaker found the van; it had been full, and then it was virtually empty with a puddle of diesel underneath it, so clearly someone had been in and got it,” Reichenbach said.

He said the school had never had something like this happen before.

“Resourcing at schools is always pretty tight, so it’s disappointing that someone would come and take diesel from us, which is used to transport kids to sport and stuff like that,” he said.

The school had now decided to move the van to a more secure place.

While the Ministry of Education does not collect data on individual theft incidents, a spokesperson said they were aware of one other similar report.

“The Ministry understands how disruptive theft can be for schools and their communities. The theft of fuel or damage to school property can affect transport and day‑to‑day school operations," the spokesperson said.

The Government has recently announced a range of measures to help schools manage rising costs and operational pressures, particularly for schools in rural and isolated communities.

The spokesperson said this includes investment to reduce reliance on diesel for heating, support to manage transport and staffing pressures, and assistance for families facing higher costs getting children to school.

Fuel thefts

The country’s fuel prices have been affected by the conflict in the Middle East that started after the United States and Israel attacked Iran.

Since the war began, multiple major fuel thefts have been reported as Kiwis struggle with the rising cost of fuel.

More than 200 litres of diesel were siphoned from a tank at a property in the Waikato last week. A man allegedly took the diesel from a tank at a commercial property at Horsham Downs.

Just a week before that, 3000 litres of diesel were stolen from a Marton fuel tank in the early hours of the morning, and at the start of the month, a Waikato mother-of-three was left without a car after thieves drilled a hole in her fuel tank and drained all the petrol.

The Government today confirmed New Zealand’s fuel stock levels have dropped since the last update.

As of April 19, 51.2 days of petrol, 41.6 days of diesel and 47.4 days of jet fuel were either in the country or on the way.

These latest figures are lower than the previous update, for April 15, but the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) insists these variations are normal and would be expected even had international shipping not been affected by conflict in the Middle East.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the falling stock levels were not concerning and these levels would continue to fluctuate in the coming weeks.