Security measures by petrol retailers is being praised by BP, as the company says plate recognition technology is an ‘excellent deterrent' to petrol theft, an industry-wide issue.

“We started using state-of-the-art licence plate recognition software across our network back in 2009,” explains BP head of retail Frank van Hattum.

“BP was one of the first companies in the world to start using this technology seven years ago, so it's great to see others investing in this area now,” he says.

The software works by taking photos of licence plates and instantly running them through a ‘hotlist' of several thousand licence plates reported as stolen or used in previous drive-offs.

If a customer's licence plate appears on the list, they are unable to pump petrol and must pre-pay for it.

“We have seen a significant reduction in fuel theft as a result of the technology and it's a great tool for us to be able to follow up on drive-off offenders.

“We hope others will see the benefits that we have,” van Hattum adds.