Basically sat on the field for 18 hours mostly overnight. Yes – a crime number was issued but the drawback form had been posted and then had to be rescinded otherwise there was a chance of inadvertently offending HMRC. Additionally - calls to engineers to check that a possible asymmetric wing loading had not created a problem – with only the outer starboard full; the inconvenience of cancelling a slot and FP from a remote AD, cancelled appointments with incredulous clients……..
Locals had reported similar intermittent thefts of smaller quantities of fuel over the years and agreed that we had been opportunistically targeted. “Yeh, that’ll be right son – you’ve been right done over” was one comforting remark.
The overwhelming sensation was how could they do this: aircraft are sacrosanct. Surely? Followed by a very strong sense of affirmation why checks are so important.
To the best of my knowledge – no one has ever been apprehended and prosecuted for this event.
At least when you land at Farnborough or Luton for example – the robbery is legal and you know it’s coming.
