POLICE are investigating a series of incidents in which cars have had fuel lines cut, which could have resulted in serious injury or even death.

The lastest incident came to light on Friday of last week, when a car belonging to Philippa Hardy of Stockton Hill, Dawlish, was found in the morning with its fuel line severed.

'When my husband took out the car that morning, I noticed there was a stream of petrol coming out from underneath it,' she said.

'We phoned the garage straight away, and as soon as we got down there the mechanic said he could smell the petrol, told us it was a cut fuel line and to call the police.

We were lucky that we were not far away or that the car had not caught fire.'

Police liaison officer, PC Andy Lobb said: What's being done here is extremely irresponsible and dangerous and lives are being put at risk.'

Director mechanic of Dawlish 2 'n' 4 Repair Centre, Mark Alford, said: 'In this case it looks as if a pair of pliers had been used to cut the line and some sort of tray has been used to collect the fuel. I can't see this being done for any other reason than stealing fuel.

'In the last year alone we have had at least 10 cars with this problem, all from the Dawlish area, and they have always been parked in a dark area and been far away from the kerb giving easy access to the fuel line.

'What's being done here is very dangerous and someone could get killed. 'We had one girl who had her car parked down in the station car park, drove to Shaldon Bridge and then noticed her fuel gauge was dropping rapidly because someone had cut the fuel return pipe to the tank, not the feed pipe to the engine. She had been leaving a trail of petrol on the road and had a motorcyclist hit it then he probably would have come off.

'It's not just petrol cars we have had this problem with. We have had to deal with diesel cars and sometimes have found them in a pool of the fuel.

'Imagine if someone had been walking past with a cigarette and dropped it into it. The car would have gone up in flames.

'Several other cars that have come in have had their petrol tank punctured with a screwdriver.

'Once they have then got their gallon or so they leave and could not care less for the rest of the petrol leaking on to the road and the dangers it is causing. If they miss and cut someone's brake line then I dread to think what could happen.

'It only seems to be happening to people who have got their cars parked on the street as we have never had any that have been parked on a drive or off-road.'