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You are sitting in
a pub and someone suggests they can fill your car
up to the brim with petrol for £20.00, you personally
may not buy this generous offer of a tank full of
petrol but someone will and thousands probably do.
How do they do it? - they take your car and stick
on some false number plates and pop into your friendly
local filling station or garage and fill up the car.
They know where the CCTV camera is and are skilled
in not getting caught on camera. Your car is full
of petrol and it has transformed itself into a 'get
away' car or some boy racers' lethal weapon.
These modern day
'Robin Hood' types seem to think that apart from lining
their pockets ( to buy drugs probably ) they are helping
the man in the street by filling his car with cheap
petrol. When they decide not to do the pub rounds
because they have sufficient funds until the next
day, they may choose to steal a car, in fact we don't
know for sure whether they cut a duplicate key from
your car whilst they where helping you!
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The
nightmare begins. They are in a stolen car full
of stolen petrol, who knows what havoc they
are about to create. Death and carnage could
be the result of their fix.
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Whilst I was sitting in
my local Sainsbury's petrol station, I watched
innocent people going about their business.
Children and elderly buying treats from the
mini-mart whilst business people and parents
were putting petrol in their cars and vans.
I saw a car screech out,
I doubt if fuel had been stolen because nothing
else happened, having said that, we don't know
what the rules are or indeed the procedure in
relation to the theft of petrol.
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"CATSCLAW"
Vehicle Immobiliser Launched at Dover
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Do they bang a big
red button which in turn records the exiting vehicle
and notifies the police? But all that aside, a child
or granny could have been killed. Ithe police are
now in pursuit ... it doesn't bare thinking what could
happen next. A multiple collision on the motorway,
a crowd at a bus stop mowed down - because the theives
naturally want to escape arrest.
My thoughts turned to a system
that could prevent the theft of petrol. In essence
if something was in place to stop cars from leaving,
and it was obvious that such barriers were in situ,
this event probably would not exist. Bank robbery
is now rare because of the CCTV and those guilotine
like shutters that drop down like a thunder bolt.
Okay, I accept that barriers and shutters are a total
inconvenience to the 99.9% of people who pay for their
petrol and are out of the question. Then I remembered
an article that the Customs and Excise had fitted
something called 'CatsClaw"
at the docks in Dover.
I embarked upon a mission, I searched
for the system and the Customs people where more than
happy to boast of their new weapon to stop drivers
speeding off when passengers were asked to stop for
a search. The device is set into the road and operated
remotely by an officer. When activated, blades deflate
all tyres and immobilise the vehicle.... Simple
!! Unfortunately they wouldn't tell me where I
could get more information, security reasons you know.
The wonderful thing about the
world wide web is that there are few hiding places
and I thought if I added .com or .co.uk after CatsClaw
it may provide me with the manufacturer, and it
did www.catsclaw.co.uk
and they are in a neighbouring town, Watford. They
didn't want to talk about their clients naturally
so I asked if they had installed their catsclaw in
any filling stations, but like all good top secret
weapon manufacturers - they chose the famous phrase
"No Comment". I'm on another mission now,
I want to know why the big petrol filling stations
aren't using it.
If I were in
their shoes I would say that it is better to allow
someone to drive off than detain a raging bull but
if they knew Catsclaw was in operation then they wouldn't
steal petrol in the first place. What does it take?
A channel across the exit route
for the catsclaw to remain safe until activated and
some effective signage. Obviously theives would look
for other exits and some outdoor landscaping would
easily fill those. I will get off my soapbox now and
ask you for one favour send this page to a friend
by clicking here. [ E-Mail
This Page To a Colleague I want to protect my
family and friends from lunatics driving with stolen
petrol and I don't want my petrol bills increased
to pay for the cost of stolen petrol. I want the petrol
stations to act now!
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