EDITORIAL — Fill and run

People are now reacting with disgust at the actions of this driver who asked a pump attendant in Quezon City to give him a full tank of fuel but then fled without paying last March 22, leaving the pump attendant to foot the bill.

In a video that’s now all over the news and social media, we can see a Toyota Innova pulling into a gas station in Barangay Apologio past midnight, the pump attendant giving the fuel, and the vehicle suddenly driving away without hesitation.

Now the pump attendant faces having to pay for the ?5,000 worth of fuel that was filched.

While some drivers do a hit and run, we can say this one did a fill and run.

When you think about it, there’s no denying that this crime --and it was a crime because taking something then not paying for it is theft-- was ingenious in its simplicity; ask for fuel on the pretense that you will pay for it and then flee in your vehicle after what you asked for has been given to you without paying.

Did the driver do this for fun or for kicks? Was it an impulsive decision? Or could he no longer afford fuel like many ordinary drivers? Given what he was driving, if he owned the Innova, this wouldn’t likely be the case.

It’s likely that he deliberately planned to do this so he may have gone to the lengths of using fake license plates and removed his conduction stickers. Without those clues he may be hard to find. It may also be no coincident that he decided to do this after midnight when there’s no more traffic in the streets.

And if he did this once there’s a chance he may do it again. He has to be found quickly, arrested, and made to pay for his crime.

In the meantime, we hope this won’t give rise to copycat offenders who may become tempted to try this modus out. One pump attendant having to pay for stolen fuel is already enough.