JUST one per cent of thefts of fuel from petrol stations across the Bradford have resulted in someone being charged in the last three years, new figures have revealed.

A Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph & Argus has found that since April 2015, there have been 2,731 recorded thefts of fuel from filling stations across the district.

In the past three years, someone has been charged for theft on just 28 occasions, leaving 99 per cent of thefts left unsolved, with police saying low quality CCTV is to blame.

These unsolved crimes have resulted in thousands of litres of petrol and diesel being stolen from the pumps in Bradford, leaving petrol retailers tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket and thousands of pounds worth of excise duty also being lost.

The numbers of thefts have been steadily decreasing in the past three years, from 981 in the 2015/16 financial year, to 969 in 2016/17, and dropping to 781 in 2017/18. But two thefts of fuel still occur everyday across the district’s filling stations.

The most troubled petrol station in the district is the Morrisons filling station at its store in the Victoria Shopping Centre in Girlington, which has been targeted 244 times in the past three years – more than six times a month – and only one of these thefts has resulted in someone being charged.

The second biggest target for petrol thieves is the BP garage in Keighley Road, Bingley, which has been hit by criminals 184 times, with three thefts resulting in someone being charged.

The Esso garage in Rooley Lane, Bierley, came third on the list, with 183 thefts taking place, but only one person has been charged.

Morrisons at Five Lane Ends, Idle, was fourth with 179 and no charges, and the Shell garage in Bingley Road, Saltaire, was the fifth most targeted with 171 with three charges.

In total, 56 different filling stations across the district have been affected by motorists speeding off from the pumps without coughing up for their fuel.

As well as Morrisons having the most targeted petrol station, across its five petrol stations in the district the Bradford-based supermarket has been targeted 732 times, with someone being charged for the theft just four times.

When asked what it was doing to try and reduce thefts, a spokesperson for Morrisons said: “We have a range of security measures, including CCTV, that aim to deter and solve crime at our petrol stations.”

West Yorkshire Police has blamed the poor picture quality of CCTV cameras at petrol stations for the extremely low number of charges, saying this made petrol theft a “challenging area for policing”, but technological developments have begun aiding officers in tracking down thieving motorists.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “We continue to work with suppliers across the district to reduce make off without payment offences and are encouraged by the significant drop in fuel thefts in Bradford over the last two financial years.

“Thefts of fuel from petrol station forecourts account for the vast majority of these offences and continue to be a challenging area for policing.

“Detecting offences of this kind is reliant upon, in most cases, good quality CCTV to identify the offender or the registration number of the vehicle to identify the owner of the vehicle. If either of these are not available, in most cases, there are very few additional lines of enquiry.

“In recent years we have seen advancements in technology, both with high definition CCTV cameras at forecourts and also police cars being fitted with ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology to assist the officers in tracing vehicles and their owners.

“Images of suspects can be found on the Caught on Camera page on the West Yorkshire Police website. If you recognise anyone please call 101 quoting the crime reference number or use the live chat facility on the force website.

“Information can also be reported to the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”