Incidents of abuse towards petrol station workers have more than doubled following fuel prices spiking at the beginning of March, reports VARS Technology.
Figures were compiled from forecourt customers that use the VARS facial recognition system, comparing the first two weeks in March to the last two weeks in February.
The company found an 115% increase in reports of aggressive or anti-social behaviour, or incidents where customers damaged shop fittings or stock. Reports of theft or attempted theft remained consistent over the two periods.
Levels of aggressive behaviour across non-forecourt retail sites using VARS facial recognition also didn’t see a notable increase.
Previously, most incidents of aggressive behaviour were linked to failed theft attempts after individuals were identified and challenged, but instead during March most reports were standalone incidents of aggressive or threatening behaviour towards petrol station staff.
Bristol, Newcastle and Leeds saw the highest increases in incidents, all seeing a more than 150% increase.
VARS Technology director John Garnett said “The rise in fuel prices has had a far bigger impact on the way people treat forecourt staff than it has on levels of fuel theft, which has only risen a small percentage on the sites we work with.
“Anyone working in the industry understands that forecourt operators aren’t profiteering or price gouging and instead are doing their best to minimise price rises for customers.
"However, that message isn’t coming through from Government, and these figures clearly show the impact this is having on forecourt workers just trying to do their job.”
VARS Technology works with over 1,500 forecourts across the UK, providing ANPR protection to alert staff about problem vehicles as soon as they arrive, as well as recovering the cost of stolen fuel on their behalf. Many of those forecourts also use VARS facial recognition to provide the same protection in-store that ANPR does at the pumps.