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Petrol stations call for hoodie ban

Monday 01 March 2010

Dutch petrol station owners are calling for a nationwide ban on hooded sweatshirts in an effort to cut down on robberies, the Telegraaf reports on Monday.

Garage owners are also planning to install more security cameras and even bring in a ban on sunglasses, the paper says.

The number of robberies at petrols stations has gone up 21% over the past year, the sector claims.

Sunglasses

'We are wary of people in caps, helmets and hoods, sometimes in combination with sunglasses,' Jolanda Swart of the Wassenaar Shell station Swart & Strous told the paper.

Her garage has hung up signs warning customers they will not be served if they wear a sweatshirt hood. 'We've had enough. We've twice been hit by ram raiders which is why we are taking more steps,' she said.

The national petrol station owners' association BETA told the paper there are no legal obstacles to a ban on certain articles of clothing. 'If there are any legal protests, then we will happily go to court,' a spokesman said.

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Readers' comments

I wear hoodies and I'm not a robber.

By LJK | March 1, 2010 11:38 AM

So i guess soon you will have to make an appointment to go get some petrol. I cant wait for all other shops to take this on. And what does this mean for Muslims who wear the veil. No more petrol for you. Cheeky bastards.

So now it really is guilty until proven innocent.

By langer | March 1, 2010 12:53 PM

In Italy during year of terrorism, it was outlawed to enter banks, shops with motorbike helmets, Balaclavas and similar stuff that would make identification impossible.
One should think along the same lines... and be accurate/fair enough to put burkas in the same list.

By fg | March 1, 2010 1:00 PM

Surely they can simply refuse to turn the pump on unless they either remove the helmet, hoodie, sunglasses, etc first or hand over the keys to their vehicle. Refusal to do either simply means no petrol.

I wonder how the Stig would get on?

By Nick | March 1, 2010 2:32 PM

What difference will wearing a hooded sweatshirt or not make when the service station states themselves that they have been hit twice by ramraiders.

By jan | March 2, 2010 7:18 AM

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