A thief or thieves has drained the fuel from a charity’s truck while it was parked over the weekend.
The Bloomhill Cancer Care truck was targeted between Friday night and Monday morning while it was parked in the car park at the charity’s distribution centre in Kelly Court, Maroochydore.
Bloomhill’s retail network lead Russell Lindsay said the distribution centre coordinator, Glenn Batey, noticed the truck’s fuel gauge showing empty and the fuel light on after he arrived at 5.30am.
“He called the employee who last used the truck on Friday to bring to his attention the benefits to the team of refuelling the truck when needed. Glenn was politely told the truck was filled with fuel,” Mr Lindsay said.
“That is when Glenn noticed the fuel cap missing and the tank damaged from prising the cap off.”
Mr Lindsay said about 65 litres of diesel worth $140 was stolen, and the charity also had to spend $220 on a new fuel cap, but the disruption caused to the work day was even more costly.
He said the truck’s crew normally got back to the station by 3pm after collecting donations for the charity’s op shops but after the delayed start they did not return until 5.15pm.
“On that day it was a very, very busy day. We had two guys working for us from an agency because it was going to be a busy day and we probably had to pay them another two-and-a-half hours, and that’s overtime,” he said.
“All up, I think it would have set us back about $1000.”
Mr Lindsay said the truck’s livery made it quite clear who it belonged to and stealing from a charity was a pretty low act.
“We don’t know why we were targeted. There were certainly other trucks in the area,” he said.
Mr Lindsay believes the thief or thieves were on a mission and came prepared with container.
“Some things have left me puzzled about it,” he said.
“Sixty-five litres of fuel is 65kg of liquid, and then there’s the size. I would say they’ve had a couple of containers,” he said.
“And the tank is not always full.”
The matter has been reported to police.
Mr Lindsay said fuel had never been stolen from a Bloomhill truck in the more than 25 years of the charity’s existence.
He urged anyone witnessing anything suspicious or out-of-place to report it to police for everyone’s sake.
“We thought it was enough to share it with the community. If they do see something, they should give police a call. It might well help another charity getting ripped off,” he said.
Police are investigating the diesel theft and have asked anyone with information or relevant CCTV footage to make contact.
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