DRIVERS are being left stranded by thieves who drill holes in their fuel tanks to drain out petrol.

A spate of attacks on parked cars in south Bristol has seen drivers left with bills of up to £500 per car to replace ruined tanks.

Particularly at risk are Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Corsa and Citroen Saxo cars – all of which have been fitted with plastic fuel tanks since the mid-1990s.

Thieves have targeted at least 16 cars with plastic tanks in Stockwood, Whitchurch and Brislington during the past two months.

Most of the victims have left their cars parked outside their homes.

Police said they were not aware of a problem but garages in the area say they have seen an increasing number of similar incidents in recent months, and linked the thefts to the high price of petrol and diesel.

One victim, Rebecca Baxter, told the Post how she had to be towed home after running out of fuel when thieves drained a quarter of a tank's worth of petrol from her Vauxhall Astra in the early hours of last Saturday.

The fuel was worth just £25 – but the repair bill for a new tank is £465.

The car was parked outside her home in Whitchurch when the incident happened but she did not notice immediately and was able to drive to and from a shift at Bristol International Airport, where she works as a passenger handler, before her engine ran dry.

The 28-year-old, from Whitchurch, ended up paying for the repair from her own pocket after her insurance said she would have to pay a £250 excess charge for them to do the work – and face losing her no-claims bonus.

Miss Baxter said: "The silly thing is that the thieves would have only managed to drain about £10 worth of fuel after losing most of it all over the floor.

"The police cannot help as they have no culprits.

"It seems this is a growing phenomenon in car crime and one that police and neighbourhood watch groups are still unable to deter.

Miss Baxter took the car to Brislington MOT Centre, in Flowers Hill, where owner Brian Bendle said it was the sixth vehicle damaged by fuel thieves he had seen in 10 weeks.

He told the Post: "It's definitely on the increase in the Stockwood and Whitchurch area – especially with the price of fuel rising. Kids come along on their mopeds and drill into tanks which are made of plastic.

Avon and Somerset police spokesman Dan Mountain said: "We are not aware that there is a problem."

But the Post spoke to a number of other garages which have seen an increase in thefts from tanks, some of which may not have been reported to police.

With the price of petrol and diesel ranging from about £1.06 to £1.20 a litre at the pumps, a full tank in an Astra costs about £60 and a Corsa or Saxo about £50.

Simon Hall, of Advanced Auto Cooling in Keynsham, said he had seen a number of tanks ruined by thieves in the past few months.

He said: "It's definitely to do with the cost of fuel. It's like driving around with gold in your tank.

"We've seen three cars come in one week all from the Stockwood, Whitchurch and Brislington area."

Martin Barry, manager of Central Garage in Whitchurch, said: "We see a lot of these incidents where they use a screwdriver to drill through the tank.

"It has been going on for quite a while. The police must be aware of it, I just can't believe they wouldn't be.

"We've seen about three incidents in the past month."

Paul Regan, of Remec Garages, St Philip's, said his garage had itself been the victim of fuel thefts and had been forced to employ a security guard after fuel worth around £500 was siphoned from trucks five times last year.

He said: "The problem hasn't got better. We still see them caught on CCTV trying to climb over the gate.

"It could be to do with the credit crunch – oil is worth a lot now."

Paul Chandler, of Stockwood Garage, said: "We've had two Vauxhall Corsas come in the past couple of months.

"It's certainly on the increase because we had never had an incident like this before."

Earlier this year, the RAC figures revealed fuel related thefts surged by 218 per cent in the South West.

It was the worst-hit region after Greater London where there has been a five-fold increase.