Lockerley primary school has been the victim of oil thieves three times in the past eighteen months. The school reopened on January 4th after the Christmas holidays and there was shock and dismay when the realisation that there was no heating set in. They battled it out on the 4th and 5th of January but the decision was then made that the school could not stay open without oil. With the horrendous weather sweeping the United Kingdom at the time it was impossible for emergency supplies of oil to get to the school and it was forced to close again for three days.
With a tank half full before the school closed for Christmas, head teacher Ms. Ann Smyth spoke of her shock at finding the gauge showing empty when they returned. Management persevered in their attempts to get emergency oil supplies delivered to the school despite having to close it from the 6th to 8th January. On Thursday 7th January their attempts were successful and the oil delivery finally made it through the snow and ice to deliver 1000 litres of oil to the school. However their joy was short lived as they found the gauge again showing empty the following Monday morning. It was pointed out by Ms. Smyth that the school had been targeted back in July 2008 but that the thieves had fled after being interrupted.
Staff at the school originally thought that the tank’s gauge was not working until they checked the levels themselves and found that thieves had cut into the top of the tank. It has now been necessary for the schools security measures to be increased to try to stop further thefts. In order to make the tank less accessible to thieves a cage placed around it is being considered. Police are continuing their investigations into these incidents.
Theft of oil from tanks is a growing crime which has been made worse by the recession and the ever increasing cost of oil.
Getting the home heated up during winter can be very expensive. Gas and electricity are very expensive today, with no signs of prices coming down. Clever people are switching to heating oil as a fuel though. When they do they always need their tanks filled with heating oil to ensure they never run out.