POLICE in crime ridden Northern Province have been stranded in their offices for the past three weeks after the province failed to pay its petrol bill. All police stations in the Nebo, Sekhukhune, Jane Furse and Motetema areas north of Pietersburg were effectively hamstrung when BP cut petrol supplies to the province because the police had failed to pay a R20000 debt. Vigilantes affiliated with groups such as Mapogo-A-Mathamaga took advantage of the lapse, however, and stepped up their own patrols in the organisation’s three patrol vans. Mapogo president, John Magolego, on Sunday saidthat the organisation had hardly noticed the police absence because they were hardly visible in the area in any case.