Householders warned about oil thieves

8 February 2008

Householders have been urged to step up their security precautions in order to avoid falling victim to home heating oil thieves.

Anecdotal evidence suggests some residents in Carlow have returned home to find their oil tanks have been emptied, reports the Kilkenny Advertiser.

Noel Reilly of O'Reilly Fuels told the newspaper the crime is not uncommon and warned that houses in rural districts are particularly vulnerable.

If a heating oil tank is easy to access, all thieves have to do is open it and use a battery-powered pump to drain it, he continued, so homeowners should make it as difficult as possible for them to get to the oil.

Mr Reilly added: "If you don't want your oil stolen fit the tank with a steel lid, it's as simple as that, or lock the tank in a steel shed."

Meanwhile, gardai in County Kerry are hunting for thieves who stole €2,000 worth of heating oil from a tank at a school in Abbeydorney.