Don't fill oil tank says top garda
■ Theft from oil tanks has become a major problem.
NEXT TIME your heating oil runs out, don't get a full tank.
That's the advice of a senior Wexford garda as the incidence of oil theft reaches an all-time high.
'It's a very serious problem, not just in Wexford but across the whole country,' Chief Superintendent John Roche told a Joint Policing Committee meeting this week.
He was responding to a concern raised by Bernard O'hanlon of County Wexford Community Forum who said 'every second person you talk to has had oil stolen from them.'
'It's linked to the price of oil. It's valuable now. It's a valuable target for the thief. It's an easy target particulary in one-off houses,' said the Chief Superintendent.
He advised that rather than getting a full tank, people should order a one-third fill, so it's not worth the risk for the would-be thief to enter a premises.
Householders should also ensure that their gates are closed, he said.
'Driving around Wexford you see people leaving their gates open all the time with valuable machinery lying around,' said the Garda boss.
The Chief Superintendent said he has no doubt tanks are being kept under surveillance and thefts carried out after deliveries.
' They're using battery operated pumps and cutting the pipe under the tank, leaving oil leaking into the ground, causing damage to properties,' he told the meeting.
Chief Superintendent Roche said the garda have evidence that some of the stolen oil is being exported and specially adapted vans have been stopped at Rosslare Harbour.
In reply to Cllr. Pat Codd, he agreed that vans driving around the county with 25 gallon drums of oil are a potential danger to the public.
'If we come across them, we take them off the road but they're just plain vans and are not easily identified,' he said.
'We have to stop them at checkpoints or on the basis of good intelligence.'
' The consequences of one of them being involved in an accident would be very serious,' he added.
- MARIA PEPPER
