https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-63212685?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGAOver 100 reports of people fuelling up their cars without paying were reported in July, Cheshire Police have said.
The force has issued a warning to drivers filling up their car with fuel at petrol stations and driving away without paying.
They said it is a criminal offence, and offenders can be caught using cameras across the road network.
Ch Supt Peter Crowcroft said: "We appreciate times are hard for everyone with the cost of living soaring.
"However, we cannot stand by and allow a small minority of people to get away with the theft of fuel", he added.
"This may seem trivial to some but as police, we have a job to do and if you are committing any type of crime, we will prosecute you."
He said there will be some "innocent cases" where drivers have left by mistake and then returned to make a payment, but said there were people who "purposely fill a full tank of fuel and drive away with no intention of paying for it".
Officers use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to virtually monitor vehicles who are suspected in committing fuel theft and Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR) technology that officers can use by taking images of faces caught on CCTV through a database to identify them.
