Aside from maintenance, regular insurance and breakdown insurance, there is one driving cost that really gets the goat of the modern motorist: petrol.

And while the vast majority of us grumpily cough up at the petrol station, there is a growing trend of drivers speeding off without paying for their fuel.

Indeed, it has been labelled an “epidemic” by heads of petrol companies, who say that ministers are not doing enough about the rising problem.

The Petrol Retailers Association, representing 400 sites UK wide, says the number of drive-offs has doubled in the last year, and warned that someone may be killed soon due to the speed of the getaways.

According to Mr Madderson of the PRA, thefts usually involved taking a full tank – around £70 – rather than a smaller top-up of around £20. He pointed out that members had to pay duty on all petrol stolen.

Justice minister Damian Green received a letter from the PRA asking him to tackle the issue. He replied that it was up to local law enforcers to deal with drive-offs.

The number of drive-offs are thought to be due to the high cost of fuel, in conjunction with steadily reducing incomes. But it has also attracted the attention of criminals, both individual and gang. Gang members have been known to fill up large containers full of petrol then drive off without paying; then sell the fuel on the black market.

Some might see the justice in stealing from the petrol industry following allegations of fuel price fixing in May, by BP, Shell and oil price reporting agency Platts. However, it is the forecourt owners, rather than the petrol firms, who pay the highest price.