A BRAZEN crook dubbed the "fuel rat" is using high-tech equipment to steal £800 of diesel at a time from businesses.
The sneak thief crawls under parked trucks, forces off fuel caps and uses an electric pump to suck out fuel.
He is always spotted with two clear plastic 25-litre containers, which when he comes out from under the trucks have changed colour to yellow because they are now full of diesel.
One furious victim is haulage boss Russ Ford, whose yard's CCTV cameras have caught the man on film more than once.
In the latest footage, the dark-clothed crook is seen pushing out his two filled containers from under a lorry before emerging himself and scuttling off with his booty.
With each litre priced at just under £1.50, and the thief known to be striking several times a night, the haulage firm reckons he is getting away with up to £800 worth of fuel at a stroke.Mr Ford's company, Fords of Breaston, has been hit ten times in the past year and there has been a spike of similar incidents in the past couple of weeks at other businesses.
Police are now putting on undercover patrols in a bid to nab the "rat".
Mr Ford cannot believe the crook's bare-faced cheek.
On one occasion, he struck yards from where three lorry drivers were parked in their cabs – one of them watching a film on his laptop – completely unaware of what was happening.
Mr Ford, who is the third generation of his family to own the 80-year-old company, said: "It is sickening that we have been targeted so many times in this way.
"People like you and I pay our taxes and work hard to earn an honest living during times of recession and someone like this just keeps coming in willy-nilly and taking my diesel in such a brazen manner time and time again.
"We have been hit ten times in the last year and if you add up the cost of fixing the fuel caps and other units that he breaks and the diesel he steals I would say that totals up to £10,000 which comes straight off my profit margin."
Fords of Breaston was started by Mr Ford's grandfather in Weston-on-Trent more than 80 years ago.
The 47-year-old, of Thulston, employs 18 staff and operates 13 lorries nationwide from its new site in Draycott Road, Breaston.
Gary Harrison, 42, is the transport manager at Fords.
He said: "With the price of fuel like it is at the moment, this thief is coming in and siphoning what is essentially liquid gold.
"Our CCTV pings to my iPhone if someone is caught in the yard and we can alert the police. Last week's incident saw the bloke get away just a few minutes before the police arrived."
Inspector Katie Andrews is the new section inspector for Long Eaton. She said tackling the spate of fuel thefts was one of her first priorities.
She said: "In the past two weeks we have seen around a dozen incidents in the Breaston and Long Eaton area whereby firms, primarily on industrial units, are being targeted by thieves getting inside and siphoning large quantities of diesel.
"We have produced a security leaflet that we will be handing out to companies.
"We have also stepped up undercover and uniformed patrols and we are determined to bring whoever is responsible to justice."
