Pre-paid fuel on the cards?

Busselton car owners may have to deal with the reality of prepaid fuel as service stations continue to deal with people driving off without paying for their petrol.

Shell Causeway manager Debbie Waters said the number of drive-offs were on the rise as a result of higher petrol prices, with the most recent incident at her station involving a car owner leaving without paying for $200 worth of fuel.

Siesta Park Gull owner Irene Dickson also believed car owners were getting more desperate.

“We’ve had drive-offs for as little as $5,” she said.

“Being a tourist town as well makes it far easier for some visitors to just drive away and never get caught.”

The station, Mrs Dickson said, was looking to set up a wall of shame, with images of people who drove off without paying.

Geographe Petroleum proprietor Rodney Johnston believed the industry was being forced towards prepayment, as service station owners attempt to protect their sales margins.

Mr Johnston said the driveway service at his station helped to discourage people from driving off, but said there were still people who took the chance.

“You can’t leave a supermarket with a basket full of groceries without paying for it, so (petrol) shouldn’t be any different,” he said.

WA Motor Trade Association chief executive Stephen Moir said driveoffs were costing the WA industry about $5 million a year.

He said prepaid fuel was not a preferred method for the industry, but maintained if members were continuing to be “robbed”, they should protect themselves and “consumers will have to deal with it”.

Mrs Waters believed a move to prepaid fuel would punish the majority for the actions of a few.

“Some people don’t know how much they will have to put in their car to fill up their tank, and they might want to spend additional money in our store, it makes it hard,” she said.

Mr Moir told the Times the association was confident the State Government was close to introducing new legislation which would provide offenders with a $500 infringement for every offence.