Gas drive-offs are driving area station owners crazy
Bay area gas station owners say the jump in gas prices has been followed by a jump in motorists who drive away without paying.
By LEONORA LaPETER
Published June 4, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - From the cash register of his Chevron gas station, Sherali Gilani is fighting to save his profits.
Behind the counter holding Dodge and Audi key chains, cheap watches studded with fake diamonds and lighters shaped like naked woman and other unmentionables, Gilani makes split-second decisions about who can pump gas without paying first. If the customer is someone he knows or perceives as a low-risk, he'll push a button authorizing the customer to pump. If he doesn't like what he sees, he'll force them to come inside to pay.
Nowadays, with rising gas prices, the gas thieves are just as likely to come in Jaguars as junkers.
Gilani, who goes by the nickname Ali, keeps a camera by his side to catch them in the act at his station at 54th Avenue N and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street. He said he has had about 10 to 15 gas thefts in the past month.
"That's $150 to $200 a month, and these days with the gas prices, I don't make any money on gas," the 29-year-old said.
A number of convenience store owners in the Tampa Bay area say they are seeing a spike in customers who pump gas and flee without paying. Just as many gas stations have not experienced more driveoffs, but industry officials and police say the number of gas thefts typically is a function of store location.
"What we are seeing nationwide is an increase in gas theft as prices go up; however, we are not seeing it in every store or every region," said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores in Alexandria, Va. "It's much more likely to occur in areas that have busy highways or intersections or in downtown areas. And that is attributable to a feeling of anonymity or connection to the community."
On average, some convenience stores can experience two to three gas thefts a week, but higher prices have brought it to two or three a day in some areas, Lenard said.
Drivers stole $112-million in gas last year or an average of $1,079 per store. But now stores nationally are reporting losses of as much as $800 a month.
Maron Jalo, 44, who manages the Amoco BP on Ulmerton Road for his brother, is frustrated. Customers drove off five times last week for a combined loss of $185. He used to lose $100 to $120 a month.
He has reported all the thefts to police, but so far no one has been caught.
"We have a problem here, especially the last two weeks," Jalo said. "We watch everybody. We turn on the pump. Suddenly, they run away. I have four kids to feed, and it really hurts."
At the Citrus Park Mobil in Hillsborough County, cashier Ray Kahla, 29, says driveoffs have doubled in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, a guy in a Honda pulled in with a piece of cardboard over his plate and drove off with $45 in gas, nearly hitting another car as he pulled out.
"They choose a time when you're busy," Kahla said.
Telling police is useless, he said, because gas thieves are never caught.
Several area police agencies, including the St. Petersburg and Tampa police departments, do not track driveoff numbers. But they said their officers had not reported an increase in the number of gas thefts. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which does track them, reported an increase of 7 percent over last year.
But Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins said he thinks it's an underreported crime because many clerks tell him and other officers they don't think it's worth reporting.
Florida is one of 25 states that suspends the licenses of drivers who steal gas. It is considered a petty theft, punishable by as much as 60 days in jail, a $500 fine and a six-month license suspension. This has caused a reduction in driveoffs around the country until the recent gas price jump, Lenard said.
The town of Mount Pleasant, S.C., enacted an ordinance earlier this year mandating that all customers pay before pumping their gas. Lenard said it is thought to be the only law of its kind in the country, though in some areas, such as California, prepaying for gas is fairly typical.
Many store owners are forcing all customers to prepay to avoid theft, but others are reluctant because they fear time-crunched customers will go down the street to stations that allow them to pump first.
