Service stations under the pump with 20,000 drive offs last year

Saturday, 25 July 2026

Last year saw more than 20,000 thefts from petrol service stations across the country - a figure the Motor Trade Association says is likely the tip of the iceberg and requires Government intervention.

Police data obtained under an Official Information Act request reveals that in 2025 there were 21,229 reports of petrol thefts under $500.

The Times initially sought data on petrol drive offs after petrol price spikes due to the Iran war, but police said that simply did not exist.

“Police do not have a specific offence code for fuel thefts from a retail premises, often known as drive-offs, and therefore measures these offences by counting theft offences under $500 recorded at service station forecourts,” said Detective Inspector Warren Olsson, National Criminal Investigations Group.

Olsson said, however, that the data is likely a good reflection of drive-offs and “a very small amount of other theft from service station forecourts may be included within the data provided”.

“But police do not consider that this has a significant impact on the data captured,” he said.

“For example, theft from service station shops is recorded as shoplifting and therefore is unlikely to be captured in this data.”

Police also separately confirmed drive-offs did spike as fuel prices climbed.

“Following an initial spike in petrol drive-offs our data shows they have returned to pre-conflict levels,” said Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny, road policing and district support.

“Fewer than 350 offences were reported in each of the last four weeks, down from 400-550 offences per week during the six weeks following the conflict in June 2026.”

Penny said diesel burglaries have also returned to pre-conflict levels.

“After increasing through March and April, and peaking at 35 offences in late April, both rural and urban diesel burglary offending have trended downwards.”

However, according to Motor Trade Association head of communications Simon Bradwell, the police data is likely only the tip of the iceberg - and the Government needs to step in.

“The numbers come as no surprise at all,” he said.

“In fact they’re probably understating the problem.”

He said that in the first quarter of this year there were already 8444 thefts recorded, but “the numbers don’t tell the full story”.

“Each theft hurts a Kiwi business and can carry emotional and physical risks to people working in service stations,” he said.

He also said they frequently hear from MTA members “disappointed in the police attitude and response to service stations”.

“While we are all aware that police have a difficult job with limited resources, we are calling on NZ Police and Government to take stronger action against service station offending, which is an exception in the Government’s progress on crime this term.”

Bradwell also said that while technical solutions to prevent drive-offs exist, putting pumps on pre-pay “is not the solution”.

“Many service stations depend on their on-site retail store for revenue, and pre-pay discourages foot traffic,” he said.

That view was echoed by Waitomo Group chief executive Simon Parham.

He said the Waitomo model eschewed the “cost and complexity” of the add-on convenience store as their intention was to provide fuel at the lowest possible cost, and that drive-offs were impossible from their outlets as they utilise pre-pay pumps.

“There is the technology and the ability to do it,” he said.

“There’s just been a general reluctance. It’s the few that are impacting the many and people don’t want to have to walk in and out again.”

Parham said selling fuel was a high volume, low margin business, so “when a dollar is stolen, that dollar is stolen”.

“You have to sell a lot of petrol and diesel to make that up.”

He said some of the larger players may be content to write-off drive-off costs as “a cost of doing business” - and to secure the shop business - as he noted “they do all have the opportunity to put their pumps on pre-pay”.

According to Bradwell, the problem could be tackled by the Government taking four steps.

“Include fuel theft in the Police Minister’s Letter of Expectations to the Police Commissioner,” he said.

“Provide 100% tax deductibility for crime-prevention capital expenditure. Establish a technology fund to help SMEs invest in technology such as Facial Recognition or AI and support an industry-led Fuel Retail Crime Group.”

“Service station members accept that they share the responsibility for protecting themselves from crime,” he said.

“However as the numbers show, government and police have a greater role to play.”