A Northland petrol station owner says he’s been forced to switch to prepay after people drove without paying amid high fuel prices.

Mangawhai GAS owner Paul Thurgood said $500 worth of fuel went unpaid three weeks ago, leading to a decision to switch pumps to prepay.

“It’s been getting worse, the higher the price goes.”

The station generally only put pumps on prepay when visitors came through, and sometimes drive-offs were an “honest mistake”, he said.

“It’s a pain to be on prepay for us.

“It makes more work for us, and it’s not something we do lightly.”

Thurgood said they were doing their best to keep prices low but felt people assumed they controlled them.

“It’s the bigger oil companies further up the chain ... we’re still only a retailer.”

Thurgood said the station would have made less than 10% profit from the $500 that was unpaid for.

The station would consider switching pumps back once prices decreased.

Thurgood had also noticed fewer cars on the road. He assumed people were conserving their fuel, such as running errands during one trip rather than popping to the shop for milk and then doing the school run separately.

GAS Kaihū owner Sukhmeet Singh had also noticed less people on the roads and fewer customers fuelling up compared to the previous week.

Parua Bay GAS owner Ross Brown said people were panic-buying within the first week of the Middle East conflict.

He likened it to Covid-19 when customers went out and purchased toilet paper in bulk, but this time it was boat containers, jerry cans and tanks.

“Everyone is filling up,” he said. “It’s just human nature.”

A police directive sent to staff in March confirmed that from now, ‘nationally standardised value thresholds’ will be applied when assessing theft and fraud files.

The threshold for petrol drive-offs is $150, while general theft is set at $200, shoplifting at $500, fraud (paywave, online and scams) at $1000 and $500 for other fraud.

Police are recommending stations include a pre-pay method during times of elevated risk, have high visibility of staff on forecourts, ensure their lighting and CCTV is up to scratch and engage regular security patrols.

Assistant commissioner Tusha Penny said police are closely watching for any trends around fuel theft and associated offences.

Northland police said they had no reports of petrol drive-offs.

The Government announced on March 24 that 140,000 families were set to receive an extra $50 a week through a boost to the In-Work Tax Credit.

The aim was to provide some relief amid increasing fuel prices, beginning on April 7.

A Whangārei parent, who did not want to be named, said their family relied on the car for kids’ sports that were often out of town in places like Auckland.

Before prices surged, they had budgeted about $100 a week to fill up.

With petrol hovering around $3.40 a litre and diesel nearer to $3.50, motorists may spend about $170 filling an average 50‑litre tank.

Dad Shane Caskey tries to find the cheapest locations to fill up the drums on the back of his truck.

“So instead of spending this 100 bucks on food, you go ‘Now I better put 100 bucks in for petrol’, and then you’ve got like 20 bucks left for food.”

Northlander Sharon Ackers filled up her car when she heard prices were going to increase.

“I naively thought ‘This won’t take long’,” she said.

“There’s a little bit of angst because we have a property up north with cattle on,” she said.

“Going up north - that’s two hours away and back, so we’re just a little bit worried. But we’re okay for now.”

Waipu resident Shane Malone travelled to Whangārei on Tuesdays but wasn’t worried.

The retiree had noticed the price at the pump, but believed things would ease soon.

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.