To follow up on my previous thread, I've just had the AA out and there is a small hole in the bottom left of the tank which has been caused by the tank being drilled. You can clearly see the plastic area of the drilling and where some pikey has done it.

For the purposes of a warning this looks to have happened at the Tesco Extra at Pitsea whilst being parked nearest to the trees.

So now I need to get it fixed The AA (through Ford Assist) are towing the car to Ford Dunton who I'll speak to and get a quote for a new tank to be fitted, but in the interim has anyone got any idea on what a new tank and fitting is going to cost me?

oh man thats awful and due to the high cost of fuel I can see more of this happening :(

Why not ring a different Ford dealer in your area and ask for a quote, then at least you will have some idea of cost.

There has been a spate of this happening around the country. It appears the people who are doing this, not only target cars, but are targetting homes with oil tanks. We've been out to two instances at schools where they've turned up with scaffolding tube chamfered at one end and a shut off lever valve on the other. By getting the chamfered end red hot they then pierce the plastic oil tank, which then partially seals around the pipe and just open the valve and pour off the oil into whatever.

When we spoke with the local police, they've seen similar cases where the same principal has been done on diesel tanks. Obviously it would be nice if they did it to a petrol tank, obviously with no one around, then when they set it on fire, hopefully with themselves it might send out a warning.

In the meantime folks watch where you leave the car.

Time to get the car lowered