ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Betoota Heights man has found an ingenious way to get a free tank of petrol every time he needs to fill up.
Instead of just putting $20 at a time into his Ford Laser like some sort of caveman, Brendan Murray walks the streets of his area before getting petrol and simply unscrews the numberplates on an out-of-town car and puts them on his car.
That way, he says, he can fill up his tank with the “good stuff” and just get in his car and drive away without paying a cent.
“I like to make sure I use Victorian numberplates because everybody hates them,” said the 34-year-old baking apprentice.
“Petrol got too expensive so I just stopped paying. I should’ve done it years ago. But I knew that I couldn’t just drive away with my numberplates easily displayed for the camera to see, I’m not an idiot, so that’s when I came up with the idea of using some silly fucking tourist’s numberplates,”
“Tell you what, the first time I did it, I was quite nervous but it was such a rush.”
Brendan admits there is a small flaw in his plan, however. Something that became apparent after he went to get free petrol from the same petrol station he’d got free petrol from in the past.
“So I was getting ready to leave and my mate went in to get a pie. I filled up the car and when I was done, the attendant did a double-take at me then jumped the counter with a length of dog chain in his hand,”
“He cottoned on to the bloke he just sold a chicken Mrs Mac pie to was with me, so he gave him one hell of a whip with the dog chain as he ran across the service station. When my mate got in the car, claret pouring out of the rip in his head from the dog chain, we sped off. The attendant grabbed the antenna and snapped it off as we floored it back onto Machattie Park Road,”
“We drove around for a while and pulled up at the lights. I put the window down and put my arm on the sill, waiting for the lights to turn green. All of a sudden, I get the biggest lash across my hand, the attendant had caught up with the antenna still in his hand. Before I knew what was up, he’d whipped me about the face with the antenna and I just floored it to get away,”
“We got away but Christ Almighty, it wasn’t easy.”
The Advocate reached out to the Betoota Heights Police Station for comment but have yet to receive a reply.
More to come.
