Man flees without paying petrol
2008-06-12 08:20
Pretoria - A man stole R2 570's worth of petrol at a petrol station in Hans Strijdom Avenue in Waterkloof Ridge and thanked the petrol attendant with R10, a cool drink and some biltong before disappearing.
The petrol attendant, Frans Makgobatlou, 20, said the man arrived there about 19:30 on May 15.
"He told me to fill up the car and then to fill up the six 25-litre containers that were in the boot with petrol."
The man said he would tip the petrol attendant well if he was quick.
Makgobatlou said he had put petrol in the car first and then in the containers.
Then the man went to the shop at the petrol station. When he came out, he gave Makgobatlou a cool drink, some biltong and R10.
"He asked me to fill up six other containers that were in the car, which I then did.
Man was gone
"When I was finished with that, he asked me how much the cheapest oil was at the petrol station. I said R16.60 and he asked for four tins."
When Makgobatlou returned with the oil, the man was gone.
"I was so shocked I called my manager immediately."
Petrol station manager Ian van Niekerk said they had looked at CCTV footage the next day and Makgobatlou had identified the man.
Van Niekerk said: "He drove a white Opel Corsa 1600 without number plates. He was about 1.7m tall and had a small goatee."
The manager of the Exel petrol station in Muskejaat Street in Waterkloof Ridge said the same man had stolen R1 400's worth of petrol from them in February and disappeared.
He had had a white Corsa without number plates on that occasion.
"The guy comes to the petrol station regularly, but then the car has a number plate. Up to now, I wasn't sure if it was him, but now that I've seen the footage, I know it's him."
Sapa reported that a petrol-station owner and six accomplices were caught in Mpumalanga after they allegedly stole a truck with a load of diesel.
Captain Leonard Hlathi said the truck was stolen from where it had been parked near Witbank coal mine about 05:00 on Sunday.
Truck found empty
The truck was found later outside Middelburg without its load, said Hlathi.
After questioning, the petrol station owner led the police to his accomplices.
The suspects were being charged with robbery and possession of stolen goods and were due to appear soon in Witbank Magistrate's Court.