I'm taking the violation or going to PC before I would park there. At least the Petro at exit 9 has armed security
Thats the big thing. Just keep an eye on your surroundings and don't park in known problem areas. When getting out of the truck look for anybody just hanging around the lot watching others. Especially if you take a shower bag with you. Thats an easy sign that the truck will be unattended for the next 15-60 minutes. Electric transfer pump and a few 55gallon drums and they can have your tanks empty in minutes.
Too many people just staring at their phones and oblivious to the world around them would never even notice the guy in the pickup truck watching them walk across the lot.
Locking fuel cap or anti siphon?
Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by RunningAces, Mar 9, 2026.
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Arctic_fox, Siinman and Brandonpdx Thank this.
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Any joint where somebody has knocked on my door asking for money immediately tells me I found the wrong place to park for the night. That pilot off of US-31 in South Bend comes to mind. Toll road service plazas are safe. Beggars can’t walk there and scoundrels that would steal fuel probably don’t have their EZ pass account in good standing, but there are always exceptions.
beastr123, Opendeckin and Razororange Thank this. -
worst case they punch it out with a bar/screwdriver
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Don’t worry about it….you can’t keep people honest with either and in my opinion both are somewhat inconvenient
Just be smart about where you sleep/leave your truck unattended.
A winch bar to the back of the head might prevent repeat occurrence and is 50 state legal….beastr123, Razororange, D.Tibbitt and 1 other person Thank this. -
Petro in Little Rock, AR several years back in Spring or early summer. Filled up there at noon to take 1/2hr break & shower. Parked in middle at end of row next to main drive through & around. Lot bit more than 1/2 full & 10/12 empty spaces on my other side.
Come out approx 40min later & fuel gadge bit over 1/2 full. Figured it might be stuck, so drove out/in twice circling the stop w/no change. Last time coming back in, pulled up to pumps & proceeded to put ANOTHER 100gals in. Son of a.....!
First & only time I have ever been hit. Couldn't believe it had happened parked in middle of lot (not edges), in broad daylight & in full view of a lot of trucks.
Worst part was that I had locking fuel caps, but had not put them back on after pulling them during winter for "convenience".
The locking caps now stay on & still try to be aware of situational circumstance. But, sometimes #### just going to happen.blairandgretchen and hope not dumb twucker Thank this. -
Lol that TA in Gary is where I woke up to a couple people helping themselves to the passenger side air cleaner on the 379 I was driving 28 years ago, wouldn't even think of stopping there after that. The messed up thing about that is they weren't even nice air cleaners, they were the smaller painted ones. Last time fuel went up like this someone got my passenger tank when I was at a hotel, it's my split tank and the driver's side was in view of the lobby so they left it, probably was about 25 gallons in there
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Lost one tank while sleeping in truck at Loves Joseph city, Az. I heard the thiefs pump but thought it was his AP unit. Another time, I parked in a dirt lot next to a hotel and was sleeping in the truck which was on a slight downgrade. At 2 am another truck pulls along side and is idling and it's bothering me. So I half rolled out of sleeper and released the brakes to let the truck roll forward about 15 ft. Next morning fuel cap was off. But he didn't get any fuel.
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Stopped using locking caps and anti-siphon devices, it is cheaper to just let them steal it than to have a tank with a hole in the bottom of the tank.
Albertaflatbed Thanks this.
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