Bilking
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/008470/Z
Version Date: 29/07/2025
The Performance & Analysis Department has provided the following information.
Data Source:
Niche crime information system
Data Processing:
Cancelled crimes included, Non notifiable crimes excluded
Qliksense Report: Crime and Outcomes
Filtered by crimed date: 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2025
Offence Description: Make off without making payment (recordable)
Secondary Search:
A search was carried out using the initial data search, searching for "bilk" or "drive off" in the Summary and MO.
Cancelled crimes excluded, Non notifiable crimes excluded
Qliksense Report: MO Text Search
Filtered by occurrence created date: 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2025
Offence: Make off without making payment (recordable)
MO Data searched: Bilk or drive off
Data Limitations/Caveats
The Crime and Outcomes report only dates back to 1 April 2020.
We do not currently have a property report. Without this report, we are unable to determine the value of items stolen without manually reviewing each crime.
Please note, the offence of "Make off without making payment" is not limited to stealing fuel from fuel stations and may include offences such as not paying for a meal or a taxi etc.
Data for tables is based on crimed year not the outcome year.
*2020 data consists of 1 April to 31 December, not the complete year.
**2025 data consists of 1 January to 15 June, not the complete year.
1 - The number of reported fuel theft incidents or “bilking” offences (i.e. making off without payment from petrol stations) broken down monthly from January 2020 to the most recent available month in 2025.
Between 1 April 1 2020 and 15 June 2025, there were 3,250 reported offences of making of without payment.
|
|
Year |
|
|||||
|
Month |
2020* |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025** |
Grand Total |
|
January |
- |
24 |
73 |
50 |
61 |
18 |
226 |
|
February |
- |
23 |
58 |
26 |
49 |
18 |
174 |
|
March |
- |
20 |
65 |
45 |
52 |
24 |
206 |
|
April |
16 |
36 |
79 |
57 |
91 |
32 |
311 |
|
May |
17 |
67 |
82 |
56 |
83 |
27 |
332 |
|
June |
25 |
75 |
101 |
53 |
76 |
13 |
343 |
|
July |
41 |
70 |
122 |
65 |
41 |
- |
339 |
|
August |
60 |
67 |
106 |
85 |
32 |
- |
350 |
|
September |
49 |
43 |
91 |
52 |
16 |
- |
251 |
|
October |
48 |
53 |
67 |
47 |
40 |
- |
255 |
|
November |
28 |
48 |
68 |
53 |
21 |
- |
218 |
|
December |
35 |
70 |
67 |
53 |
20 |
- |
245 |
|
Grand Total |
319 |
596 |
979 |
642 |
582 |
132 |
3250 |
There were 239 reported offences, which were recorded to have occurred at a petrol station and where either "bilk" or "drive off" were mentioned in the MO/Summary.
|
|
Year |
|
|||||
|
Month |
2020* |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025** |
Grand Total |
|
January |
- |
0 |
0 |
6 |
7 |
0 |
13 |
|
February |
- |
0 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
3 |
19 |
|
March |
- |
0 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
3 |
16 |
|
April |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
9 |
1 |
20 |
|
May |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
16 |
2 |
23 |
|
June |
0 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
8 |
- |
19 |
|
July |
0 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
4 |
- |
22 |
|
August |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
5 |
- |
22 |
|
September |
0 |
2 |
0 |
15 |
1 |
- |
18 |
|
October |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
11 |
- |
23 |
|
November |
0 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
1 |
- |
15 |
|
December |
0 |
0 |
16 |
10 |
3 |
- |
29 |
|
Grand Total |
1 |
4 |
23 |
116 |
86 |
9 |
239 |
Please note, we changed from Unifi to Niche for our crime information system in October 2022 and there will be differences in exactly how things are recorded which will account for part of the jump in the figures. This means that figures before and after octover 2022 are not cmparable.
2 - If recorded, the estimated total value of fuel stolen each month (or year).
We are unable to extract this information due to the lack of a property report.
3 - The number of these incidents that resulted in:
a) A suspect being identified
b) An arrest
c) Charges filed
d) A conviction - Information about convictions is not held by the police, please submit a new request to His majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to obtain this information: HM Courts & Tribunals Service - GOV.UK
Crime by outcome
|
|
Year |
|
|||||
|
Crime Outcome |
2020* |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025** |
Grand Total |
|
Action Against Suspect Not in Public Interest |
37 |
28 |
32 |
36 |
42 |
6 |
181 |
|
Action taken by another body/agency |
0 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
19 |
|
Adult Caution |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
|
Charged/ Summonsed |
14 |
17 |
25 |
15 |
18 |
2 |
91 |
|
Community Resolution |
3 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
31 |
|
Diversionary, educational or intervention activity |
6 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
23 |
|
Evidential Difficulties - Victim Declines |
0 |
1 |
4 |
24 |
43 |
13 |
85 |
|
Investigation Complete: No Suspect - Case Closed |
201 |
468 |
782 |
399 |
245 |
59 |
2154 |
|
Investigation Ongoing |
0 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
15 |
15 |
42 |
|
No Crime |
15 |
23 |
20 |
17 |
16 |
9 |
100 |
|
Not in the Public Interest - CPS |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Not in the Public Interest - Police |
0 |
0 |
5 |
42 |
83 |
2 |
132 |
|
Not Recorded |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Offender Died |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Pending CSU Outcome |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Prosecution Time Limit Expired |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
|
Suspect Identified - Evidential Difficulties |
36 |
34 |
61 |
55 |
55 |
13 |
254 |
|
Suspect too Ill |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
Victim no Support |
5 |
13 |
20 |
26 |
41 |
7 |
112 |
|
Victim too Ill or Dead |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
319 |
596 |
979 |
642 |
582 |
132 |
3250 |
Data for this table is based on the crimed year, not the outcome year.
Crimes with a linked arrest
|
|
Year |
|
|||||
|
Arrest Linked |
2020* |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025** |
Grand Total |
|
No |
306 |
574 |
940 |
612 |
558 |
124 |
3114 |
|
Yes |
13 |
22 |
39 |
30 |
24 |
8 |
136 |
|
Grand Total |
319 |
596 |
979 |
642 |
582 |
132 |
3250 |
4 - The number or proportion of these cases that were closed without a suspect identified or charged.
See table of outcomes above.
5 - If recorded, how many incidents involved the use of fake, cloned or unregistered number plates
Information not held.
6 - As part of investigations into fuel theft incidents, does your force routinely request or receive data from any of the following systems (if known):
a) CCTV surveillance
b) Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
c) Forecourt fuel monitoring or wetstock systems
Information not held for question 6.
I would appreciate it if the information could be provided in a digital format, such as a spreadsheet (.xls/.csv) or document, for ease of analysis.
If any of the above data is only available in financial years (rather than calendar years), please make this clear and provide the information in that format instead.