Over 5 million suffered fuel theft in last 12 months
Fuel theft is on the increase:
New figures show that over 5 million people (17 per cent) have been privy to fuel siphoning crime in the past year (2008).
And as the price of crude oil continues to rise, fuel thefts are inevitably set to increase.
Research by car insurer esure revealed that more than three quarters (76 per cent) of British motorists worry about rising fuel costs now more than ever, especially in light of rising mortgage payments, food costs and energy bills.
Around two thirds (65 per cent) of those questioned said they have changed their attitude towards using their vehicl due to the credit crunch, with almost half (44 per cent) stating that they now only use their vehicle when absolutely necessary in order to conserve fuel.
Worst UK regions for petrol siphoning crimes
- East Anglia 20 per cent*
- Wales and the North West 18 per cent
- South West and Midlands 17 per cent
- Northern Ireland 11 per cent
*Percentage of people in the area who have been privy to fuel siphoning
Fuelguard - helps prevent fuel theft
With this in mind Rutland Communications has launched Fuelguard, an electronic fuel-theft detector system designed to detect and alert of persons siphoning fuel out of vehicle fuel tanks.
The system can be installed on most negative earth vehicles and is available in 12V and 24V versions.
When armed, the Fuelguard system continually monitors the fuel tank, checking for any signs of a decreasing fuel level.
The system ignores any temporary level changes, e.g. when wind is rocking the vehicle or any other occurrences where rocking might ‘wave’ the fuel.
The system has two sensitivity settings either of which can be selected when arming. Should neither setting be selected, after 1 hour the system will automatically self-arm on the lower sensitivity setting.
With the ignition turned OFF, to arm on the most sensitive setting, press the Arming button momentarily. The LED will flash once, and two minutes later the system will fully arm with the LED flashing every half second.
To arm on the lower sensitive setting, press the arming button and hold (approx two seconds) until the LED flashes twice. Two minutes later the system will fully arm with the LED flashing every half second.
The Fuelguard is disarmed whenever the ignition is turned ON.
When a decreasing fuel level is detected, or disconnection of a Sender unit wire, the unit will alarm for 30 seconds, re-check, and if the alarm condition is still present alarm for a further 30 seconds … up to a maximum of 3 times.
The alarm ouput can be connected to a siren or to our optional GSM alert system, in which an SMS message is sent to your phone with a predetermined warning message.
Nationwide Installation Service Available
