Snazy

In the local Sainsburys the other day, up at the counter and suddenly an alarm starts. On the ANPR screen you see it appear the details of the vehicle and "DRIVE OFF"
Thinking he had legged it, I was shocked when the discussion started... He was JUST entering the petrol station and the vehicle was flagged for non payment previously.

Firstly, HOW STUPID !! To return there lol
Secondly, damn good stuff. Sadly they could not force him to pay up, but they did refuse to even sell him anymore. Cant get far with no petrol..... MUPPET!

Good to see people like this being targetted now, by the people in a position to make life hell.
I wonder if there is like a local database sharing scheme.

He was not pleased, lots of abuse, in and out of the shop a few times, before driving away, low on petrol

Dracoro

Good idea

I was once filling up, car pulls up to pump next to me, fills up then just drives off.

Guys at the till said to me "did that guy just fill up and drive off?", Yes I replied. I gave them the reg and left it at that.

Great if they circulated this around all petrol stations. Problem is updating the records. Say your car got nicked and then they got petrol without paying. Later on you get your car back and can't fill up anywhere as their records have not been updated!!! However, this would be rare so I think the greater good would apply. Just have some procedure to have your reg removed once car recovered etc...

gazza-uk

they should share the db..

OllyK

If they have his reg, why haven't the police followed it up and passed his details on to the garage to follow up in the small claims court if the CPS won't do anything?

Snazy

It will be recorded with the police as an offence, and should he be picked up on police ANPR he can expect a pull. For the cost of following up in court, for whats probably £20, its probably cheaper to write the loss off, and prevent further with blocking his drawing of petrol in future.

OllyK

Assuming the car is registered in their name, one wonders why plod don't call round to his house rather than waiting to catch them on ANPR again.

Snazy

lol mate the amount of ANPR operations around here, it would be just as quick to wait for him to drive into one LOTS of ANPR in "that London"

After all if the police were to waste time visiting the house of someone who nicked £20 of petrol, the political ***** would get started on police messing about on "easy" nicks rather than REAL police work.

davegtt

Everybody with a car needs petrol, I dont understand why petrol stations are not joined with the DVLA yet to stop tax evasion and cars with no MOT or insurance. Would certainly make the roads better.

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

ANPR at the forecourts wouldn't deter a persistent thief. He'd just park round the corner and fill up using a jerry can.
Or a bit of black tape over the numberplate to change one of the letters/numbers.

WRX_Dazza

what happens when he sells the car??

the new owner won't be able to buy petrol there??

thats bo11ox. upholding and enforcing law is the police's job, not some ****wit pump attendant.

Snazy

Daz, problem is sometimes that is not recognised and people think the police are mincing about with the less serious things. A lose lose situation.

As for selling the car, im sure there is something there that will notify of change of owner, or I would hope so anyway. Must be linked to something?

WRX_Dazza

Snazy, yeah i see where you are coming from.

I, for one, like suprisingly many people have respect for the law, as i haven't had cause to think otherwise.

i would love to know how many people are running around on cloned plates now with ANPR being so widespread.

its a sad world and worse, its getting sader day by day....

OllyK

Ahhh, I see, hadn't realised it was London. We don't have police or ANPR on the roads up here in the country, just Speed Cameras.

corradoboy

Bradford had trouble with 'drive-offs' and many garages there now have ANPR, so the ******* drive 2-3 miles into Leeds for their fuel now

I do see this as a worthwhile application of the technology, but am very opposed to it being used across the whole road network, effectively tracking every journey of every person

Snazy

Got to admit, im somewhat baffled at the number of ANPR masts going up around London. With data being leaked at the rate it is, we might as well have publically accessable trackers fitted lol.

I can see the positive of it, but also a certain element of negative to say the least.

corradoboy

Specific targeted applications and passive checks by the Police at random roadside locations I have no objection to. The plan for it to go nationwide, backed up by RFID tags in plates, and the data to be stored for a minimum 5 years and easily accessible I object to. Any innocent individual has the right to go where they like, when they like, and not have those movements recorded for analysis by any body, Police, government, commercial, no-one !

what would scooby do

That'll be your mobile phone then

robby

it'll get like a few years ago when petrol prices rocketed if the ******* can't get served - they'll go out syphoning from parked cars

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

******* round here are drilling holes in the fuel tanks to get fuel out round here so not only do you lose your fuel you got a bill for a new tank.

Ringpeas

Drills and petrol dont mix.

Lets hope we get a few burnt petrol thieves

corradoboy

Drilling through plastic isn't likely to cause a spark or much heat anyway, and with diesel it's damn near impossible to ignite. Before glow-plugs and heated tanks, truck drivers weren't averse to sticking a lit rag in the tank on frosty mornings to make sure they could get going

Lum

Because he wasn't speeding.

Also, I'm not a fan of this new development. It's far far too easy to clone a numberplate (about £30 for the pair, no checks, no ID) so now all you'd have to do is clone the plate of someone who's pissed you off and then drive around all the local garages nicking petrol.

RFID wont help either. Too many law abiding people are dead set against it and will microwave their plates as soon as they arrive. There's no way for a normal person to check if the RFID is functioning so plenty of plausible deniability.

GC8

Contrary to what you saw on The Professionals, you can extinguish a lit cigarette in petrol. Its the vapour thats highly inflamable.....

zip106

You demonstrate, I'll watch

(from far away!)

Dracoro

What's the cigarette got to travel through to before it gets to the liquid petrol??

GC8

Try it.

Removed.

I have personally seen a demonstration by a fire brigade, of extinguishing lit cigarettes and matches in a shallow tray of petrol, outdoors, where the vapour cannot build up. Petrol in it's liquid form is very difficult to ignite, hence why cars need carbs or injectors to turn said liquid into a volatile vapour which ignites easily.

Also, check out Mythbusters on Discovery channel, they tried really hard to ignite petrol with a lit cigarette, like in the movies, no joy.