Friday, November 6, 2026
A man has been charged with multiple offences, after a car was filled with more than £100 worth of petrol at a service station in Rossendale, with no attempt being made to pay.
Officers were called to Shell Garage on Haslingden Road on Tuesday (3 November) afternoon, to reports a man had driven onto the forecourt, filled the car and a jerry can with £113 worth of petrol, and then drove away without paying. CCTV also revealed the car had false numberplates.
Enquiries to find the man were carried out, and later that day an officer stopped a man who matched his description on Hapton Street in Burnley, with the car located close by. When the man was searched, a Kinder Egg with suspected Class A drugs were found in his trousers, and when he attempted to flee the scene, the key for the car involved in the earlier theft also fell out of his pocket. Due to being in possession of what was believed to be drugs and suspicions he had been driving, the man was also asked to provide a specimen for analysis, but refused.
The man was arrested on suspicion of making off without payment and was taken to custody. We can now share with you that Mark Ellis, 50, of Milnshaw Gardens, Accrington, has been charged with:
He was also charged with a separate count of making off without payment from Furthergate Service Station on Furthergate in Blackburn.
Ellis appeared at Blackburn Magistrates Court on Thursday (6 November). He has been bailed until his next court appearance on Thursday 3 December.