Petrol station attendant violently attacked after confronting fuel thief

A petrol station attendant has been bashed after confronting an alleged thief caught in traffic in East Melbourne.

The thief filled up a black Volkswagen Golf at a 7/11 service station on Victoria Street just before 9am this morning before driving off.

But peak hour traffic meant the man didn’t get far.

A service station worker walked out into traffic and confronted the thief as he tried to flee, knocking on his window.

“The man that was driving the car didn’t respond and so the 7/11 attendant took out his phone and took a photo of his number plate and then … took a photo of the driver,” witness Kylie told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

Then the confrontation turned violent.

“He walked off into the petrol station and the offender got out of the car and chased him down,” Kylie said.

The witness said she saw the offender push the worker to the ground a punch him “a number of times”.

The petrol station attendant was not seriously injured in the attack and returned to work a short time after.

The male offender is described as 20 to 30 years old, tall, with dark skin and was wearing blue tracksuit pants at the time of the incident.

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Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or file a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au