Heating fuel stolen in north Northumberland

Properties in the Waren Mill and Bamburgh areas have been hit.

Police have asked residents with a fuel tank for their heating oil to review their security measures.

Steps to reduce fuel being stolen include

Perimeter - Check your perimeter is in good repair, are there any gaps through hedges or any other natural “fences”. Any state of disrepair to the perimeter should be attended to.

Lighting - low level security lighting is recommended - dusk to dawn lights are the best option which operate by a photo electric cell and turn the lights on as it becomes dark and then stay on all night until dawn.

Fencing - enclose your tank with a good strong wooden fence, you can consider reinforcing this with prickly defensive planting. The fence should be as close to the tank and as high as possible.

Alarms - you can purchase alarms for fuel tanks, which would if the level of oil drops dramatically send a text message to nominated mobile numbers, obviously you would need to have a plan in place if this did happen as to what action or response you would take. You could reinforce this by a small warning sign located on the fence of your fuel tank stating is have a monitored alarm fitted.

Further advice can be found at www.northumbria.police.uk