The owners of a family-run garage have told of their anger after a brazen thief was caught on camera making off with £120 worth of fuel.

CCTV footage shows a Vauxhall Astra driver filling up before leaving Palmarsh Gulf Service Station, near Hythe, in an incident staff have described as "incredibly damaging" to their business.

Owner Sutha Hari says it is becoming a regular occurrence at the Dymchurch Road site - and they have given up reporting it to police because no one is ever brought to justice.

“It is really damaging for our business,” the 49-year-old explained.

“We lose money, which can be tough for a small business like ours.

“It’s also very unfair to our hard-working staff who feel let down when this happens.”

The incident happened on Sunday, June 23, at about 7.20pm. The driver of the blue Vauxhall can be seen filling up the vehicle for more than a minute before jumping back in the driver's seat and pulling away.

Despite the significant amount of fuel stolen, Mr Hari and his family decided not to report it to the police as “nothing ever comes of it”.

He added: “The most frustrating part is that the police often can’t do much about it, so we’re left without a proper solution. It feels like an open-and-shut case with no happy ending for us.

“This has happened three times in the past month and all the vehicles had fake number plates.

“Every time the police ask for evidence, we send it to them, and they call the very next day and say we can’t do anything.

“We hope that by talking about this issue, we can raise awareness and find ways to stop it from happening in the future.”

In May, KentOnline revealed that family-run petrol stations are having to call in bailiffs to recover just a fraction of the “thousands upon thousands” of pounds worth of fuel stolen from forecourts.

Last year, 971 reports of people failing to pay at the pumps in the county were made to police.

It had been 1,116 in 2022 and 752 the year before that - although businesses and industry experts say the actual figure is likely to be far higher due to not all incidents being reported.

In addition, a Freedom of Information request sent by KentOnline to Kent Police revealed last year about 80% of “drive-off” cases ended with no one brought to justice.

This is an increase on the previous year when it had been just 70%.

James Wyles, community safety unit inspector for Kent Police’s Folkestone and Hythe team, says that in the last three years, officers have called to the Palmarsh garage twice.

He said: “Kent Police received two reports of fuel being stolen from Palmarsh Service Station on November 7, 2021, and on May 27, 2024.

“Following an investigation, officers charged a man in connection with the incident reported in November 2021. The decision was later taken by the Crown Prosecution Service to discontinue the case.

“As part of our enquiries to obtain CCTV footage relating to the incident reported in May 2024, officers have visited Palmarsh Service Station. During the visit, two previous offences, that were not reported to police, were disclosed to officers and enquiries are underway to establish the full circumstances of those offences.

“The distressing impact that crimes such as this can have on businesses is not lost on officers, and we encourage all suspected fuel thefts to be reported to us via the appropriate channels.

“This ensures we can investigate all available evidence – which may include where registration plates have been disguised - and deliver a proportionate response.”

In some petrol stations across Europe, customers are told to pay before filling up their fuel tanks.

This system is used to try and combat the amount of motorists driving off without paying for petrol.

Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), said: "Industry experts suggest that the cost to the forecourt industry of making off without paying for fuel and no means to pay is over £100 million per annum.

“The PRA is working hard with technology providers, police forces and the government to improve systems to combat this.

“Unfortunately, the cost of crime must be paid for alongside all the other rising costs that our members have had to bear."