Fuel theft: when the law enforcers are crooked

[Retro]

Crime really does take on every form possible and then some. Here, innocent motorists are being hounded for payment of fuel that they've already paid for, by shady ANPR enforcement company VARS Technology that's used by thousands of petrol stations across the country.

These bastards remind me of the crooked private parking companies that routinely shake down innocent motorists for money over alleged parking infractions. Even where they really have committed an "infraction", the system is rigged to trap motorists into doing so and then appeals are denied as this is how they make their money, duh.

My hot tip is to always pay by card so that there's proof of payment on your statement which will win any potential court case.

Drivers have accused a leading petrol station security company of issuing “false” fuel theft debts, which left one family unable to fill up their car at more than 1,000 filling stations for more than a year.

Amjad Khan and his family were barred from multiple petrol stations around Blackburn for 19 months after he was accused of driving out of an Esso petrol station in Manchester without paying for £20.01 of fuel.

VARS Technology – which provides automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and debt recovery services to one in eight petrol stations across the UK – wrote to Nasim Khan, the registered owner of the couple’s car, in July 2023 and told her she had to pay for the cost of the fuel, plus a £30 admin fee: a total of £50.01.

Amjad, 58, was adamant he paid for the fuel with cash and was forced into a one-and-a-half-year battle with the company.

Family ‘banned from more than 1,000 petrol stations’ amid fuel theft row

Family who said they paid cash were left embarrassed after being accused of not paying £20.01

www.theguardian.com

 

[Hitcore]

Motorists (lovely British word btw) are the perfect financial milking cows, be it through taxes, fines, or fuel. What are motorists gonna do, take the bus again? Not after all the investments they've made. And the more rural motorists oftentimes don't even have other options.

My hot tip is to always pay by card so that there's proof of payment on your statement which will win any potential court case.

Where I live paying by card for fuel has become the only option. Nothing but those staffless 24/7 self help stations where you stick the card in first and then pump. Not entirely a fan of this, though that has more to do with my aversion to the cashless society we're heading towards, which is the real ultimate control tool.

 

[Retro]

Motorists (lovely British word btw) are the perfect financial milking cows, be it through taxes, fines, or fuel. What are motorists gonna do, take the bus again? Not after all the investments they've made. And the more rural motorists oftentimes don't even have other options.

Hit the nail on the head there, it's exactly why we're so abused like this.

Where I live paying by card for fuel has become the only option. Nothing but those staffless 24/7 self help stations where you stick the card in first and then pump. Not entirely a fan of this, though that has more to do with my aversion to the cashless society we're heading towards, which is the real ultimate control tool.

Yeah, I don't like those much either, especially if I have to use one late at night, it all gets a bit lonely and I feel vulnerable to getting attacked by a thug. Thankfully, the vast majority are manned, and I still avoid using them late at night, anyway.

As far as cash, I think it's going that way partly due to the control you mention as there are no anonymous transactions making interference by the state or bad actors hacking the system possible, but also efficiency as computerising any process makes it orders more efficient. I do like the ease of paying by card and have never had Big Brother curtail access to my money so I don't have a problem with it and avoid paying cash for anything if I can help it.

Since you really don't like cashless, how do you think we might be controlled by it?

Got an interesting story now we're talking about cash and petrol stations. The other day, I filled up with fuel at around 10am or so, paid and came back to my car. Meantime, another car had parked behind mine at the pump. A man was standing by it who then politely asked me to help him with petrol money and looked quite distressed by his situation. Said he had no cash, had lost his wallet and was really low on petrol. He asked me to go to the cashpoint onsite and get some money from it for him. He would then give me an IOU and phone number and I'd get paid back shortly. His distress looked quite genuine, too.

Hmmm... I thought, there's no way this could be a scam or potential mugging, I mean, doesn't happen in just this way, does it? So, I duly went to the cashpoint and politely refused and told him that I can't do that as I don't know him and suggested he call someone, but he said he didn't have* his phone with him either. He pleaded a bit, but I just apologetically (didn't want to trigger him) repeated that I didn't know him, got into the car and drove off sharpish. He carried on looking distressed as I looked in my rearview mirror, so perhaps he was genuine, I'll never know, but no way would I ever fall for a potential scam like that.

Think, had I been stupid enough to go to the cashpoint, it's possible that he'd have knocked me out as soon as I'd put the PIN in, then taken the cash and driven off, CCTV be damned. If not a violent attack, then it would have been the last I'd seen of my money for sure.

If I somehow ever found myself in a situation like that (rather unlikely, no?) first thing I'd do is go to the kiosk and ask the staff member for help. Not sure what they could do, but it's the starting point, not approach another motorist. Ever.

Now, imagine how vulnerable I'd feel if I'd had this encounter late at night at an unmanned petrol station. Even if it was manned, I somehow can't see the cashier jumping out of the kiosk in Hero Mode to save me. At least they'd report the incident sharpish, hopefully. So, nope, daytime fillups for me at a manned station, only.

*I'm impressed at how he'd covered every eventuality here, making it as difficult for me to refuse him as possible, bless. I'm almost certain that was an attempted scam.

@Astro What @Geffers @Mars @Tiffany I think this story will interest you.

 

[Hitcore]

Since you really don't like cashless, how do you think we might be controlled by it?

In a cashless society people may lose freedom and privacy. Every payment is tracked, so governments and companies can see what you buy, where you go, and how you live. If systems fail, are hacked, or power goes out, people may not be able to buy food or necessities. With nothing to fall back on, the entire economy would come to a standstill. Governments could freeze accounts, block purchases, or control spending, which limits personal choice. People without technology, bank access, or digital skills could be excluded. Cash allows independence. Without it, people become more dependent on systems they do not control.

I'm almost certain that was an attempted scam.

It probably was. Good call to not get sucked into it.
Every single time I trusted strangers, they have betrayed my trust.

 

[Hitcore]

Well whaddya know, I legit randomly stumbled upon this just now:

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[Mars]

@Hitcore oh I so hate the idea of the cashless society! I loath it.
@Retro it was obvious that your encounter with the 'poor sod' at the pump was a ploy to rob you, in one way or another.
Sad to say, but I wouldn't be surprised that some unsuspecting soul would have fallen for it.

 

[Retro]

@Retro it was obvious that your encounter with the 'poor sod' at the pump was a ploy to rob you, in one way or another.

Thinking about it, there's a little more to tell. As I approached my car and he got my attention, I immediately thought "oh shit, this guy wants money, what a pita", so I was on to him straight away. Also, it's possible that he had accomplices hiding somewhere. So glad I dodged that bullet.

 

[Mars]

Also, it's possible that he had accomplices hiding somewhere. So glad I dodged that bullet.

oh yes, not only is it possible, I would bet this was not a 'one man operation'.

 

[Retro]

@petermarkley I'm curious about how you'd have responded in the same situation as my story in post 3 from your Christian perspective, if you don't mind letting us know.

 

[petermarkley]

@petermarkley I'm curious about how you'd have responded in the same situation as my story in post 3 from your Christian perspective, if you don't mind letting us know.

Seems to me like you probably handled it pretty well.

Sometimes there’s an unknown amount of risk, to not only ourselves but also potentially the stranger asking for money (e.g. if they’ll use it for drugs etc.). That means there’s almost no “right” answer that perfectly balances the need for generosity vs. the need to responsibly manage ourselves and our resources—because we can’t know where that balance lies, and if we can’t know then we can’t be blamed for not getting it perfect.

Maybe if we had psychic powers and could read the person’s mind, then we could justly be held to some “perfect” standard in a case like that. But we don’t, so we can’t. At least that’s my personal view.

I’m certainly no expert on the proper way to exercise generosity to poor, needy, or vulnerable people in the world. But I’m pretty sure what that stranger asked you to do is not it … especially in today’s world of almost universal phone/internet access and massively increased stranger danger (or at least increased awareness of stranger danger).

How does a person these days even end up in the situation he described (no cash, no wallet, no phone, and no gasoline)? Did he survive an encounter with Walter White from Breaking Bad? Even if he was telling the truth and suffered some rare, bizarre misfortune he could hardly blame you for distrusting the story.

And that’s not to even mention his proposed remedy. There’s probably about a hundred better ways to address that situation, both with and without your help. Was there nobody he could call with a borrowed phone that could come help him? No institution offering some type of aid or service that he could use? Why was he fixated on that one single remedy, if not for some type of con job? I don’t know but I think a genuinely desperate person would be more reasonable. In my experience if these types of people are questioned along these lines, they suddenly get very impatient …

I know your story is different but it makes me think of all the times that strangers have asked me for cash. There’ve only been one or two times that I gave cash to a person on the street like that.

Once he was hardly a stranger because I’d seen him a dozen times, had lengthy conversations, and even knew his name. (And once the same man alerted me to a wad of cash that had accidentally fallen out of my pocket as I walked away, when he could’ve easily kept quiet and claimed the cash for himself! So I already saw he was an honest person.)

Another time it was a very small amount of money and the person had a plausible story for exactly why they wanted it. (I was in a stressful situation of my own and couldn’t really afford to question them or explore alternatives.) And even then, before handing the cash over, I explicitly acknowledged the doubt lest they use it for something bad and I tried to politely stress that I was trusting them. Who knows, maybe I was a fool that day.

The difficult thing is that we never really find out, so we never really know what lesson to learn from it if any.