Any excuse to act like an animal

Evidently a number of motorists are filling up and then speeding off without paying. Fin24 says so… so believe it coz it’s true! Peter Morgan, chief exective from the Fuel Retailer Association (FRA) said that there were at least 10 similar incidents in the past month.

The latest one involved a Durban man driving into and knocking down a 29-year-old petrol attendant, causing injuries to his spine and hand. In a related incident, a man from Pretoria stole R2 570’s worth of petrol at a petrol station on Hans Strijdom Avenue in Waterkloof Ridge.

Now Morgan (from the FRA) tries to empathise with the consumer, stating that “People are doing this because they have no choice…”. I applaud him for his desire to see the situation from another’s perspective, but there is always a choice. Each incident has a unique set of circumstances. Given that there are only “about 10 similar incidents” a generalisation is especially foolish. Even if there were a greater sample to draw from generalisations only serve to neglect certain elements in a sample.

This is not to say that there weren’t cases of people being hard-up. For the purposes of my rant however, I’m going to take a look at the above 2 incidents in a sample of “about 10.”

First, let’s take a look at the man that stole R2 570’s worth of petrol:

• He arrives and asks the attendant to fill up his white Corsa and the six 25-litre cans in the boot.
• He promises the attendant a large tip if he works quickly and takes a walk to the shop.
• When he returns he gives the attendant a cooldrink, some biltong and R10, and asks him to fill up six more containers that were in the vehicle.
• He pulls a Houdini by asking the attendant to get him 4 of the cheapest cans of oil and speeding off when the attendant’s back is turned.
• After a manager from a nearby Exel station in Muskejaat Street in Waterkloof Ridge reviewed the footage he was able to confirm that the same man had stolen petrol to the value of R1 400 from them in February.

This illustrates that the recent price hikes had nothing to do with the man’s petrol theft. He’s just a small-time opportunist. Assuming that the two robberies are his only two (a dangerous assumption) I think it’s possible to induce that he is using the petrol he steals and that it is likely that the fuel he stole in February (R1 400) lasted until mid-May (when he committed the next robbery). That amounts to about R467 per month that didn’t have to come out of his pay.

His theft doesn’t sound like an act of “How will I be able to get home tonight?” desperation but of simple pre-meditated “I didn’t feel like paying for petrol anymore” robbery.

In the incident where the dude hit the pump attendant the attendant fell on the bonnet as the guy tried to speed off (it’s not said if the attendant was trying to stop the guy from driving off or if he fell onto the bonnet because the motorist hit him). The attendant then fell off and was used for traction by one of the vehicle’s tyres.

What kind of man just drives off when he’s hit someone? And all this for a tank of petrol?