Police are still trying to work out how daring thieves pulled off one of Britain’s biggest-ever fuel thefts, by siphoning off

£45,000-worth of petrol and diesel from a supermarket filling station.

Morrisons, in Burton-on-Trent, was hit in a night-time raid on August 3, when the gang managed to drill into the giant underground storage containers under the forecourt.

Police believe the thieves used pneumatic drills to break into the tanks, where they siphoned off 22,000 litres of unleaded petrol and 16,000 litres of diesel. The raid – which would have taken several
hours – happened sometime between midnight and 4.30am, when the station was closed.

Police are puzzled because the gang appear to have pulled off the crime without alerting suspicions. A spokesman said: "The offenders would have had to use a large vehicle or a tanker to remove this large quantity of fuel, and it would have taken a long time. We are appealing for anyone who may have been travelling past the filling station between midnight and 4.30am, and seen the fuel being removed, to come forward.”

Officers are still examining Morrisons’ CCTV cameras and automatic number plate recognition system, but – at the time of going to press – they were still no nearer to solving the massive fuel heist. Staffordshire police want anyone with any information toring 0300 123 4455.