A DRIVER who filled up with petrol and drove off may be $50 worth of petrol richer but the police are hot on his tail.

Police are searching for a male driver who parked at the Hatton Vale Shell, filled up his car with petrol and then drove away.

The offender visited the service station at 2.24pm on Sunday and was caught on camera stealing petrol.

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Gatton police officer Sergeant Tony Harm said sometimes drivers accidentally left without paying, usually after a distraction.

“With the number of service stations around, it is regular that we get reports of fuel drive-offs, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional,” Sgt Harm said.

“It can be a couple of times a week in the Lockyer Valley.”

But in this case, the proof was in the CCTV footage: the driver filled up and left.

Sgt Harm said the driver was seen to leave in a gold Ford Territory with the Queensland Registration 085 LEK.

“If they fill up and just drive off, it often shows a criminal intent,” he said.

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Sgt Harm said a large proportion of petrol drive-offs seemed to be done on purpose but some were accidental.

“I investigated one the other day and you could see on the footage the fellow pumped fuel and then was approached by a friend,” he said.

“He spent the next 10 to 15 minutes speaking.”

He said the driver in this instance had willingly gone back to pay the amount of money owed.

“He obviously forgot because his attention was on other things,” he said.

“It’s an honest mistake, which can happen … but in other cases, you can see through their movements they have no intention to pay – they get straight in their car and drive away.”

Read more stories by Ebony Graveur