City receives 221 reports of illegal petrol stations in January and February, averaging 111 per month or more than four times 2025 monthly average
Published: 1:54pm, 13 Mar 2026
Updated: 4:06pm, 13 Mar 2026
Illegal operators in Hong Kong have been converting vehicles into mobile refuelling points and posing risks to public safety, according to authorities, as they reported a 42 per cent jump in average monthly complaints about illicit petrol stations.
As drivers continue to grapple with rising fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war with Iran, the Fire Services Department said it received 221 complaints about illegal petrol stations in the first two months of the year, averaging about 111 per month – 42 per cent higher than the monthly average in 2025.
The department said on Friday that prosecutions in January and February had risen even more sharply, increasing 85 per cent over last year’s monthly average, with illegal operators deploying tactics such as modifying vehicles for use as mobile refuelling points.
“Back in the day, it could be very large scale like a petrol station, but now the scale is smaller and it is scattered across different places. It could be places like cars and containers,” divisional officer Ng Wing-chit told a radio programme, adding that such methods made detection and enforcement more difficult.
As the war stretched into a second week, oil prices surged above US$100 a barrel, with Iran effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply is transported.
According to the Consumer Council’s fuel price tracker, the price of standard petrol had broadly increased by 56.4 per cent after the start of the war in Iran on February 28.
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https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3346460/jump-illegal-refuelling-complaints-hong-kong-grapples-rising-oil-prices?utm_source=rss_feed
