It used to be deer poaching, now rural gangs move into the oil business

It may not be quite like the film Mad Max out there, with violent gangs roaming Britain in search of the few remaining drops of fuel, but for farmers like Eddie Cowpe it feels a little bit like it.

He returned to his farm shop in Lancashire recently to find that thieves had emptied his 10,000-litre diesel tank. What they did not take they let drain away on to his stone yard and into the water course, leaving Cowpe facing a bill of almost £70,000 for the fuel lost and the clean-up.

"I said two years ago that this country was going to see serious civil unrest and riots because of food and fuel shortages," said Cowpe. "It's going to come true. It's a frightening scenario. These people are morons and vandals. They just don't care. I don't know where it's going to end."

In the week that Rosemary Dove, a farmer's wife from Co Durham, collapsed and died after an alleged diesel raid, the fuel crisis is hitting farmers, truckers, motorists and householders in the pocket - and making them feel rather less safe.

With oil prices jumping to another record high yesterday to break through the $142 a barrel level, it is likely to become an even more attractive target for thieves.

The latest surge in prices took oil up to $142.26, with Opec predicting that it could soon hit $170 a barrel.

Oil prices have been on an upward trend since the millennium, when they were around $10-20 a barrel. The huge increases have led to gangs of thieves in lorries or vans fitted with drums and pumps roaming the countryside, often tailing tankers so they can be sure of finding freshly topped-up containers.

Petrol stations are even setting up "stingers" that puncture the tyres of motorists who drive off without paying and farmers are getting together to create secure compounds for their fuel.

It is difficult to obtain precise figures to illustrate the extent of the problem. The Association of Chief Police Officers' vehicle crime intelligence service (Avcis), has only started collating the statistics relating to fuel theft in the last two months.

However, Cumbria police said the number of thefts of red diesel, which farmers use in tractors and other agricultural vehicles, had increased in its area by 75% in the first three months of this year. North Wales police said fuel thefts had doubled in six months in some of its areas.

Esure, the insurers, released a survey this week in which they claimed that more than 5 million private motorists - almost one in six - had been the victim of fuel theft or knew someone who had been. It pinpointed East Anglia as a hotspot.

NFU Mutual, which insures many farmers, said claims concerning thefts of red diesel for the first five months of this year were up by 30% on the same period in 2007. It highlighted Co Durham and Cornwall as problem areas.

Richard Dodd, a Northumberland farmer and north-east director of the Countryside Alliance, said: "Three years ago red diesel was 11p a litre and now it's 70p. It has become worthwhile for criminals to target farmers' diesel tanks. There are rich pickings to be had."

While once farmyards were bustling places, changing working practices mean they are often deserted for long periods.

Tim Price, a spokesman for NFU Mutual, said farmers were often hit by a double whammy. After the thieves take what they want, they leave valves open and let fuel leak out. Farmers face a bill for the fuel, which is usually covered by insurance, but also one for cleaning up the mess, which may not be. Cowpe's fuel loss, for instance, amounted to £6,000 - the other £60,000 was to cover the clean-up.

Price said the gangs were undoubtedly organised. Ten years ago, when there was a spike in diesel prices, thieves stole small amounts but today they are draining tanks. They need pumps, vehicles fitted with large containers to whisk the fuel away and a ready market to sell it to.

NFU Mutual has heard of farmers moving their supplies into secure, guarded compounds - but the worry is that thieves will see these mini-depots as even more tempting targets.

Truckers are used to taking precautions to protect their valuable loads but now they are having to try to guard their fuel caps when they are parked.

David Webb, managing director of Cambridgeshire hauliers G Webb, said thieves were parking some distance from targets, prising open diesel tank caps, running long hoses into them and pumping fuel out at their leisure as the driver sleeps.

Depots are also being hit regularly. Webb's company is spending tens of thousands of pounds on protecting its depot and has even redesigned its tipper trucks to make the fuel tank less accessible.

"But we can't stop the thieves. If they are determined enough, they will get through," said Webb.

Then there are the ordinary motorists. Chevrolet driver Alastair Fox, who works for the probation service, was one of seven motorists whose fuel caps were prised off in a car park in the village of Pin Mill, Suffolk. "It's annoying more than anything. It was parked in a car park and you worry that they must be prowling around there." He lost about £20 of fuel and has not even bothered to report the matter to the police.

Many householders, too, who rely on oil for their heating feel someone is watching them.

The web-based oil company BoilerJuice has received dozens of reports of tanks being drained. Again, there is good money to be made - a 1,000-litre tank holds more than £600 of fuel.

One victim, Jon Ward, of West Sussex, has gone to great lengths to stop thieves striking at his tank again. He has three dogs in his garden, has set up security lighting and CCTV and built a fence topped with razor wire. "Let the bastards try it now. Shotgun is also at the ready," he said.

Privately, police forces admit they are struggling. Paul Labotte, head of Avcis, urged drivers to take extra care. But even he said haulage companies and drivers were in an "awkward" position. If they try to secure diesel or petrol tanks they may face a double whammy - the thieves could drill a hole through the tank and the driver will be facing a bill for the fuel and the damage caused.

There have been a few successes. Drive-offs from petrol stations rose by 13% last year, at a cost of £32.5m. Jaginder Singh Mudhar's family had to close down their petrol station in the Midlands because they were so badly hit by drive-offs - so he decided to invent a device to stop it happening to other people.

The Drivestop device, a set of spikes that puncture tyres if someone tries to leave a forecourt without paying, has been installed at 18 sites. Drive-offs at these forecourts have stopped completely.