Shamly Sud of the award-winning Racetrack convenience and forecourt chain has been left fuming after police initially said they wouldn’t act when a staff member reported a fuel theft.
A Racetrack customer refuelled their car, then went to an external ATM before driving off last weekend. But when site manager, Derek Paton, called the police to report the incident on Tuesday he did not get the response he had hoped for. Instead, he was asked whether or not he felt the drive-off had been intentional and when he answered that it may have been a mistake, he was told that it wouldn’t be followed up as it wasn’t a crime.
In order to get the police to take on the case, Derek had to backtrack, claiming that the drive-off probably was intentional. This resulted in a second police phone call on Wednesday where Derek was told that the drive-off would be followed up on this occasion, but that “it depends on who you get on the phone” as to whether the police would be willing to act next time.
Shamly claimed that Derek was also told that the police didn’t want to waste their time and that his staff needed to “be more assertive”.
She explained that the company already took stringent measures to tackle drive-offs with three sites using special cameras which scan registration plates so that fuel can be withheld if the plates are false. Each customer is also asked at the till whether they need to pay for fuel, but obviously this isn’t possible if they don’t enter the store. “I’m not sure what they [the police] expect from retailers,” said Shamly. “I would not expect my staff to run out onto the forecourt because that’s above and beyond what they’re paid for and I wouldn’t want to put them at risk.”
Police attitude ‘flipped’
She claimed that in the past the police had treated all fuel theft seriously, but that now their attitude had completely “flipped”, adding that another member of her team who reported a separate incident was told that the same person would have to have driven off four or five times before they’d consider it a crime.
“If people get wind of the fact that they can just go and get fuel and drive off and know that the police aren’t going to do anything then that puts us at a deficit,” said Shamly.
“What is the point in us having CCTV and state-of-the-art technology so that we can get the registration plate and give all the details to the police if the police then turnaround and say ‘this is not worth our while’.”
She also resented that the onus was on the retailer to make a call as to whether or not a drive-off was intentional.
She stated that she would now train her staff to report all drive-offs as intentional. “It’s actually pathetic,” she said, adding that Derek’s initial phone call took 40 minutes and would have been for nothing had he not insisted that the theft was intentional.
“I understand that Police Scotland is limited on resources, but retailers have to feel safe and feel that they’re being protected,” said Shamly. “At the moment I’m just seeing another expense that’s happening and it’s just ridiculous.”
The frustrated retailer took to LinkedIn to share her grievance, tagging Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Police Scotland. She stated: “Retail crime is out of control… Why are businesses expected to carry the cost of theft? And why is there so little support from those meant to protect us?
“It’s no surprise businesses are closing. Margins are shrinking, risks are growing, and support is disappearing.
“Retailers don’t need sympathy — we need action, consistency, and accountability. Right now, we’re not seeing it.”
