RESIDENTS in South Herefordshire are being warned that they live in an ‘oil theft hotspot.’

The HR9 postcode which covers Ross-on-Wye has been named as one of the six most at risk in the country of the theft.

The independent findings, commissioned by BoilerJuice, asked 38 police forces across the country how many oil thefts were recorded postcode in 2016.

The average victim lost £280 worth of oil.

It is also believed that the increase in the price of oil from 25p per litre (in January 2016) to 42p per litre (in November 2017) plus the isolated nature of many of the homes has made heating oil an easy target for thieves.

Lee Cowles MD for BoilerJuice said: “When the cost of heating oil spikes you usually see this followed by an increase in theft.

"Domestic oil tanks can contain hundreds of pounds worth of oil and the cost of damage to tanks and potential spills caused by theft can also cost up to tens of thousands of pounds, depending on the severity, so it makes good sense to take a few precautions to protect it. We’d encourage residents to fit padlocks on their tanks and think about installing alarms to deter opportunistic thieves.”