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Original poster

To not transfer money at petrol station

367 replies

Phugs · 02/08/2025 11:50

Yesterday I put fuel in the car and went in to the petrol station to pay. There were a couple of people in front of me in the queue. When I got to the front I said pump 7 please and the cashier informed me that someone had already paid for pump 7.

The man who had paid was just getting back in his car so the cashier gestured for him to come back in from his car and said he had paid for the wrong pump. Immediately he turned aggressive and started shouting at me to pay him the money back by bank transfer.

I refused, I wasn’t going to transfer money to a random person in the petrol station and it immediately felt like a scam.

I requested the cashier just refund the man his money so that I could pay my bill and he refused and started pressuring me to just “pay the man what I owe him”. The customer who had paid my fuel then started calling me a fucking bitch, saying I wasn’t fucking leaving with out paying him his money and he would “do me in” if I tried to leave. He had clearly been drinking, and his friend, who was originally a passenger drove the car away from the petrol station. At this point another customer stepped in and called the police.

The customer then got really aggressive with the man on the phone to the police and started pushing him around, it escalated really quickly and I was asking the cashier again and again to just refund the man his money so that I could pay for my fuel. I asked him to bring a manager out and he said he was manning the station on his own and there was no one else to assist.

Two female police officers arrived and the man was increasingly aggressive with them, calling them both fucking bitches and insulting their appearances. Eventually he was arrested, the cashier then could magically create me another bill and I paid.

When I was leaving the cashier told me I could have avoided the altercation if I’d just paid the man what I owed him and when I’ve tried to lodge a complaint with the petrol station manager, she’s said the same and that it was between me and the other customer to sort out, that the cashier had done nothing wrong by refusing the customer a refund.

Im fairly certain I’m not in the wrong here, would anyone transfer money to a random stranger in a petrol station and walk away without any proof of payment?

OP posts:
itsgettingweird · 02/08/2025 12:44

cyvguhb · 02/08/2025 12:40

Hopefully the drunk man wasn't the driver, I guess the other man pumped and he went in to pay and said the wrong number

I can't imagine it was a scam, a combination of a drunk and a cashier maybe lacking training. Suggesting one customer pays another is a bizarre solution

Show quote history

OP says the drunk man drove in and his passenger drove the car away. No idea if that was before or after his mate was arrested for being a scumbag?!

cheesycheesy · 02/08/2025 12:44

Sounds awful. Post on their social media also.

Annoyeddd · 02/08/2025 12:44

The cashier maybe didn't know how to do refunds or it is too much work (have to get a senior to authorise).
The police seem to take more interest in petrol theft than any other shoplifting ( is it because most of the cost is tax).
As a matter of interest op was his bill bigger than yours (perhaps he had seen a smaller amount on your pump than his and hoped that you would think you were on his). What sort of money are we talking of.
So much easier with an EV not having to go to garages anymore and come across these people

Original poster
Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:42

Hankunamatata · 02/08/2025 12:30

If he paid your pump surely his pump hadnt been paid so you would pay for that?

I wasn’t getting in to that, the amounts would have almost certainly been different and at that point I just wanted a proof of payment for the right amount so there was no comeback on me. Plus, the error was nothing to do with me at all so didn’t want to do anything that might complicate it or muddy the water.

OP posts:
FrangipaniBlue · 02/08/2025 12:42

WednesdaysChild50 · 02/08/2025 12:33

Don’t be ridiculous!

Show quote history

Why is that ridiculous?

I’ve been in a petrol station before where the person in front accidentally gave the wrong pump number and paid the £20 for mine.

No drama, I just paid the £20 for theirs.

thenightsky · 02/08/2025 12:42

WearyAuldWumman · 02/08/2025 11:56

He'd have been stuck if he'd asked me. I can just about manage an electronic transfer on my laptop at home, but wouldn't be able to transfer money to a new payee on my mobile phone.

ETA You behaved perfectly correctly, OP. Sounds like a scam to me.

Edited

Me too. I'd have just said I don't have a banking app.

I don't see how you owed the man money. It was petrol station that took his money, not you. Petrol station should pay him back.

fisherhatesgravel72 · 02/08/2025 12:42

How much was his fuel? Could definitely be a scam, he fills up the tank to full then the chances are the other users are putting in less?

Bowling4soup · 02/08/2025 12:41

i work in a petrol station, sometimes people give the wrong number pump by mistake. When this happens, I sort it on the till, refunding the one who over paid and putting the correct amount through for the other person, no problem. I think your cashier maybe isn’t authorised to do refunds and since he was alone he wanted the customers to sort it instead. This shouldn’t be the case though, the store should have just dealt with it right away

SpidersAreShitheads · 02/08/2025 12:41

Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:40

I did think that maybe they were in on it together, my thought process later was that the customer hadn’t paid for my fuel, the cashier insists I “refund” the customer, I walk away without any proof of payment and later I get a letter claiming non-payment.

Show quote history

I wondered this too.

cyvguhb · 02/08/2025 12:40

itsgettingweird · 02/08/2025 11:54

No I wouldn’t have done a bank transfer either. The cashier should have refunded the amount - plus the customer should have noticed what he out in and what he paid differed.

Hopefully the drunk man wasn't the driver, I guess the other man pumped and he went in to pay and said the wrong number

I can't imagine it was a scam, a combination of a drunk and a cashier maybe lacking training. Suggesting one customer pays another is a bizarre solution

SpidersAreShitheads · 02/08/2025 12:40

I probably would have just transferred the money OP or if there was a cash point, gone outside to withdraw cash before handing it over.

But that’s because I would have felt intimidated into doing so.

The actual right thing to do was what you did - the garage should have refunded the man/charged him correctly and then generated your bill to pay. Absolute BS to say they can’t do that.

I really hope Shell head office back you up and the petrol station staff get a bollocking as they created the situation, not you.

Original poster
Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:40

Beachwaves45 · 02/08/2025 12:29

It makes me wonder if the cashier could've been somehow in on this 'scam' with the man, as it's so unbelievable that the cashier wouldn't know the transaction has nothing to do with you and just given him a refund.

I did think that maybe they were in on it together, my thought process later was that the customer hadn’t paid for my fuel, the cashier insists I “refund” the customer, I walk away without any proof of payment and later I get a letter claiming non-payment.

OP posts:
PeachPumpkin · 02/08/2025 12:38

You did the right thing OP. It must happen once in a while that the wrong pump is paid for and there must be a set procedure for that (like refunding the customer who paid the wrong pump). I think it’s vanishingly unlikely that the procedure is for you to transfer the funds to the man. I would have done the same as you. It does look like a scam. I would want proof that I had paid the petrol station, otherwise if you had transferred the funds to the man, it could end up unfairly looking like theft on your part. Good for you for holding your ground.

AtomicBlondeRose · 02/08/2025 12:35

Oh absolutely no way would I have transferred the money. All the other objections aside, you’d then have no proof you’d paid for your petrol at all!

Tagyoureit · 02/08/2025 12:34

Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:24

He didn’t, it occurred to be last night when I was repeating it in my head that he hadn’t paid for his own fuel at any point. Hopefully an additional incoming bill from the petrol station for that! He didn’t get a refund for mine either, so the petrol station have actually been paid twice, but I didn’t care, I just wanted a proof of payment at that point so I could leave.

Show quote history

Of course, but the whole situation was so avoidable!! Its madness it had to go that far.

HardworkSendHelp · 02/08/2025 12:33

Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:13

Yeah it’s shell, I’ve put a complaint in to their resolutions team now.

Show quote history

That is just shocking OP, thought it was going to be some side of the road independent station, not a flipping Shell!!!

WednesdaysChild50 · 02/08/2025 12:33

Hankunamatata · 02/08/2025 12:30

If he paid your pump surely his pump hadnt been paid so you would pay for that?

Don’t be ridiculous!

Judiezones · 02/08/2025 12:33

How would you, anyone, know that the cashier and "customer" weren't in it together and it wasn't some kind of scam? You did the right thing, so did the other customer who phoned the police.
A friend of mine went to the same privately owned petrol station every week. One week when she paid the cashier tried to charge her again, saying he saw her fill up a few days before and drive off without paying. This was rubbish and she told him so. He then threatened to call the police saying he had witnesses and cam footage. She preempted him by going to the police herself, who paid him a visit and there was no witness or cam footage.

tempname1234 · 02/08/2025 12:33

Most definitely sounds like a scam. You owed the other customer nothing. You bought petrol from the petrol station. You have no obligation nor connection to the other customer. I’m glad someone called the police.

id be ringing the head office of the petrol station. Get the police report number to provide them too.

Hankunamatata · 02/08/2025 12:30

If he paid your pump surely his pump hadnt been paid so you would pay for that?

Beachwaves45 · 02/08/2025 12:29

It makes me wonder if the cashier could've been somehow in on this 'scam' with the man, as it's so unbelievable that the cashier wouldn't know the transaction has nothing to do with you and just given him a refund.

plinkityplink · 02/08/2025 12:28

I don’t do internet / phone banking so they would have been screwed…

I could have posted him a cheque 😂

ChompandaGrazia · 02/08/2025 12:28

It sounds like some kind of scam. In my experience the people working in the petrol station tend to know which pump you’ve come in to pay for.

I wonder if shouty man is known to the staff member. Shouty man purposely pays for the wrong one that he has seen is a lone female. He then forces the lone female to pay him by bank transfer.

robinibor · 02/08/2025 12:25

Wow. That sounds terrible OP. I would have done the same infact I would have left without paying and called the Police.

Original poster
Phugs · 02/08/2025 12:24

Tagyoureit · 02/08/2025 12:20

That's so bad!! The cashier and his manager are complete twits!! They should have processed the refund and let the crazy man pay for his own petrol.

Out of interest, did the crazy man pay again for his own petrol?

He didn’t, it occurred to be last night when I was repeating it in my head that he hadn’t paid for his own fuel at any point. Hopefully an additional incoming bill from the petrol station for that! He didn’t get a refund for mine either, so the petrol station have actually been paid twice, but I didn’t care, I just wanted a proof of payment at that point so I could leave.

OP posts:
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