School Is Targeted Yet Again By Oil Thieves
In the past eighteen months Lockerley primary school has been targeted three times by oil thieves. 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. It was decided to close the school again for three days after students bravely tried to function as normal for two days. The oil company simply could not get to the school quick enough for it to stay open due to the treacherous road conditions that were seen throughout the United Kingdom.
The head teacher Ms. Ann Smyth explained how when they returned to school in January, the gauge on the tank showed that it was empty despite it being half full before the school had closed for the Christmas holidays. 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. Eventually the oil company managed to battle through the snow and ice and had 1000 litres delivered on the evening of January 7th. But when the school opened again on the following Monday morning the level was again at zero. This was the third attack and Ms. Smyth told of how thieves had also tried to steal the school’s supply of oil in July 2008 but had fled after being interrupted.
Before actually checking inside the tank, staff at first thought that the gauge had been damaged. 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 investigating 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. Fuel such as electricity and gas show no signs of coming down in price. Many individuals are now changing over to cheaper home heating oil though. And when this happens they have to ensure the tanks re always full of heating oil to ensure they never run out.
