Australia: Fuel price rises cause spike in stolen car plates

Rising petrol costs have led to a huge spike in the number of registration plates stolen from car parks across Sydney as desperate motorists find ways to avoid having to pay for petrol, the latest figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveal.

The bureau’s director, Don Weatherburn, said number plates were the second most common items stolen from cars, beaten only by money but ahead of once popular items such as iPods, mobile phones and in-car navigation systems.

Dr Weatherburn said there was a direct link between rising petrol prices and plate theft. Thieves were concealing their own plates with stolen ones so they could drive away from service stations without paying for petrol.

Figures reveal that when there is a 10-cent increase in the price of a litre of petrol, there are an extra 120 incidents of petrol theft a month, and the bureau predicts that, if petrol prices hit $1.70, the number of incidents of petrol theft would climb to 1600 a month.

Sydney Morning Herald