Driving off is no solution

By Staff
June 2, 2004
No one likes gas prices that are nuzzling the $2 a gallon mark, but filling your tank and then driving off without paying is not a solution. That only punishes the gas station or convenience store, which still has to pay the distributor an agreed upon price. Plus, it's a crime, similar to shoplifting.
Store operators are trying to discourage drive-offs. You may have noticed the hand-lettered signs posted on local pumps saying you either have to pre-pay before pumping or use a credit card.
We think drivers need to assume more of the responsibility for their own actions.
Maj. Ward Calhoun with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department said gas drive-offs are also a problem in the county. Calhoun said he has seen an increase in drive-offs in the last six months.
He said sheriff's deputies have been encouraging convenience store owners to keep gas pumps off unless customers have first paid in cash or used a credit card at the pump.
If customers can't pay using one of these options, Calhoun said, they have recommended having them leave a driver's license at the store counter as a method of discouraging a drive-off.
People who drive off without paying are hard to catch, but that doesn't mean they won't be caught and forced to suffer the consequences of their illegal actions.