Simple way to eliminate ‘drive-offs’

I read with interest your articles over the past few months and especially “Big bother at the pumps” in November about the amount of crime on the forecourt – especially “drive-offs”.

What amazes me is that we seem to be the only country in Europe and probably the world that asks us to pay for our fuel AFTER we have filled up.

Everywhere I have travelled abroad, drivers pay BEFORE they fill up. This eliminates the drive-offs and the “Oh, I forgot my wallet” excuse by 100 per cent. Can anyone explain why we are not adopting this policy in the UK? Is it just that the petrol stations think people won’t fill up their cars? Come on, everyone has to fill up. I’m sure that the honest public wouldn’t mind paying first, especially when it’s us honest people that foot the bill for the ones that don’t pay.