Diesel thieves drain businesses as prices climb in North Jutland

Several businesses in North Jutland have reported diesel thefts as prices rise, DR reports. One contractor says thieves stole 400 litres from his excavator beside a motorway near Hjallerup last week.

Henrik Svenningsen, a drainage contractor at HS Dræning and the excavator’s owner, said he was stunned by the theft. The thieves had climbed a six-metre embankment and crossed a wildlife fence to reach the machine.

Svenningsen later spotted a pair of pliers that he suspects the thieves used to cut through the fence. He has had diesel stolen from his machines four times this year, despite parking them away from roads and in deep mud.

He believes rising diesel prices are driving the increase in thefts. “When diesel cost 10 to 12 kroner, we didn’t have problems with this,” he said.

Rental company Providers, also in Hjallerup, lost nearly 30,000 kroner worth of diesel last weekend, its director, Jesper Kjelgaard, told DR. He said it took the thief less than 15 minutes to empty two lorries.

The company has surveillance cameras, but Kjelgaard said he cannot reach the premises before a theft is over when an alarm goes off. He believes stolen fuel is sold on the black market for about half the price charged at petrol stations.

North Jutland Police recognise that there is a market for stolen fuel and warn people against buying it. “If you are offered fuel at an unusually low price or under suspicious circumstances, alarm bells should ring,” said Ulf Munch Sørensen, head of the police department for operational special investigations.

Police received 61 reports of thefts of diesel and other fuel in 2023, rising to 118 in 2025. So far this year, the force has received 92 reports. Police say thieves often target parked lorries, construction machinery and other large vehicles.

Sørensen urged businesses to make theft harder with measures such as good lighting, surveillance cameras, locked fuel caps and secure parking areas. Svenningsen’s company will now refuel only the amount of diesel it expects to use that day. He is unsure whether that will deter thieves, but says it will leave less fuel for them to take.

Asked whether he had done enough to protect his diesel, Svenningsen said: “I thought I had. But when they start cutting through fences to get to it, I can see that I haven’t.”