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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:
BellissimoGecko · 03/08/2025 14:21

God, OP. What a horrible situation. You were totally in the right.

ManchesterLu · 03/08/2025 14:19

You were absolutely in the right. Sorry you had to go through this!

You shouldn't have to explain yourself whatsoever, but if this situation ever happened I'd just say I didn't have online banking, job done.

OR, no, because you need it to come up as a petrol purchase on your bank statement (I would, actually, for business expenses).

karenjkayjay · 03/08/2025 14:17

Hi I work in a petrol station and people paying for the wrong pumps happens at lot, especially when it’s busy and they give us the wrong pump number and we didn’t see what pump they came from. You were 100% right in not transferring him the money. Where I work we can’t issue refunds for fuel but we work out what you should have paid and work out what he has paid and do it on the till that way, it’s hard to explain. Was it a small private garage or a big chain? I would definitely put in a complaint as it’s so wrong that this happened to you.

Dery · 03/08/2025 14:12

@Mh67 - OP’s debt was to the garage. If OP had paid the other customer, she would have no evidence that she had paid for her petrol. She could then be pressured into paying for her petrol again because that would be much easier and quicker than having to deal with criminal charges for having allegedly stolen the petrol. The other customer and the petrol station attendant would probably just lie about what had happened.

Whether or not it was a scam, it would never have been right for OP to pay this gut. The petrol station attendant should just have rung up a refund for the incorrect payment but it sounds like they were happy to try and bully a woman driving alone.

thestudio · 03/08/2025 14:10

I'm in awe that despite the adrenalin you were able to construct and deliver the 'looks like it's you who's going to be someone's bitch tonight' line 💪

Although obviously it's wrong on every level

Mh67 · 03/08/2025 14:06

Can someone explain if she did bank transfer how could they scam her i don't understand thanks

LivingDeadGirlUK · 03/08/2025 14:04

It absolutely sounds like a scam, there is no way competent cashiers (and you said the manager got involved) would deal with this situation like that.

Anonomoso · 03/08/2025 13:58

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.

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All the while his passenger has driven his car off with a tank of unpaid fuel.

MyspecialMug · 03/08/2025 13:54

You are not in the wrong at all.
Totally between PS and the man.
So who paid for the man's correct pump?,
Was it the same amount on both pumps?
Very frightening for you all.the same.

AngelicKaty · 03/08/2025 13:45

diddl · 02/08/2025 18:58

Don't credit notes exist anymore??

Why would a credit note be necessary? The dozy cashier simply had to refund shouty man and take payment from him for the correct pump. If shouty man doesn't live locally or routinely fill up at that fuel station, what good would a credit note be to him?

Strictlymad · 03/08/2025 13:45

Utterly shocking and disgraceful of the petrol station. Please let us know how you get on. You did the right thing op

Merrymouse · 03/08/2025 13:45

kp40 · 03/08/2025 13:40

I work for a big chain petrol station it literally takes 2 mins to refund or do a manual
fuel correction, the problem is franchised stations seem to follow there own rules, this wouldn’t have happened in a company owned station we have way to many times around this. I would put in a massive complaint to shell so they can have a proper look into what’s going on.

I know shop lifting is a problem for all retailers, but it seems particularly problematic for a petrol station to suggest a solution that provides no paper trail properly linking the purchaser to the sale.

I can understand one member of staff being untrained, but the manager's behaviour was very odd.

Nchangeo · 03/08/2025 13:44

EverythingElseIsTaken · 02/08/2025 13:12

And that right there is how the scam works!

Shell garages around here are known for their shady behaviour. I’ve called the police myself when a Shell cashier got a colleague to block my car as I was “leaving without paying”, he just kept saying my payment had been refused and I had to give him cash, but I checked my app and the payment was showing. Then he said that the police would take too long and I would never get where I was going so just pay (and he said “again” so he DID know I’d paid). Police attended, checked my app, took my statement and told them to allow me to leave. Officer who escorted me back to the car said I’d done the right thing, that they’d been called to the same situation before and advised me to NEVER pay cash because then there is no real proof as they claim their till roll has run out. You did exactly the right thing OP!

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Shells round here dodgy too. I dont know how they get away it tbh. DP always says if he opened a garage and did that he would in jail by the end of the week. Yet it’s a perpetual problem and nothing happens.

AngelicKaty · 03/08/2025 13:41

Sera1989 · 02/08/2025 19:08

It sounds awful, if I were you I would’ve left well before the police came! I wonder if the petrol station man couldn’t refund the other guy because it was you asking for the refund, not the actual customer. Or perhaps he thought it was a scam between you both whereby you both drive off with free fuel after him getting the refund. Anyway the petrol station guy should’ve just done the refund when the man started violent and aggressive - in fact he should’ve called the police when it was clear the man had been drunk behind the wheel!

OP wasn't asking for a refund for herself. She was simply explaining to the idiot cashier what he needed to do to correct the error that either he or shouty man had made, so that she could pay for her fuel.

kp40 · 03/08/2025 13:40

I work for a big chain petrol station it literally takes 2 mins to refund or do a manual
fuel correction, the problem is franchised stations seem to follow there own rules, this wouldn’t have happened in a company owned station we have way to many times around this. I would put in a massive complaint to shell so they can have a proper look into what’s going on.

AngelicKaty · 03/08/2025 13:34

ImGonnaKeepOnDancing · 03/08/2025 13:24

Why is it ridiculous? Assuming it’s the same amount then surely that’s the solution? (I’ve not read the whole thread but that was my thought from the beginning) he paid for OPs, then OP pays for his. No need to transfer anything to anyone and could’ve saved OP a whole lot of trouble and abuse.

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And the key word in your argument is "assuming". OP's told us that her bill was £55, but she has no idea what shouty man's was and given his aggressive, sweary and threatening behaviour towards her, straight out of the blocks, I doubt she was inclined to ask. Anyway, the problem was caused by either shouty man giving the wrong pump number or the cashier mishearing him, so it wasn't OP's problem to solve - it was theirs. It had damn-all to do with her.

DurinsBane · 03/08/2025 13:30

Phugs · 02/08/2025 13:37

I thought I was going to get a smack when he called me a fucking bitch just as the police arrived and I responded with “looks like it’s you that’s about to be someone’s bitch tonight” it was my one and only retort through the whole thing and I swing between being mad at myself for lowering myself to his level and being a little bit pleased with myself for not silently taking his shit.

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That was a great comeback from you! 🤣

AngelicKaty · 03/08/2025 13:25

Talkingfrog · 03/08/2025 13:20

Not if a different amount.
We once had tgat- wrong pump paid for and cashier asked if we would pay that one instead. Answer was a firm no - the other pump had double the amount if fuel. We weren't going to pay for fuel we didn't have.

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Heavens! This thread and your experience shows that there are some people who are employed as petrol station cashiers who definitely shouldn't be! 😬

ImGonnaKeepOnDancing · 03/08/2025 13:24

WednesdaysChild50 · 02/08/2025 12:33

Don’t be ridiculous!

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Why is it ridiculous? Assuming it’s the same amount then surely that’s the solution? (I’ve not read the whole thread but that was my thought from the beginning) he paid for OPs, then OP pays for his. No need to transfer anything to anyone and could’ve saved OP a whole lot of trouble and abuse.

Talkingfrog · 03/08/2025 13:20

Hankunamatata · 02/08/2025 12:30

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

Not if a different amount.
We once had tgat- wrong pump paid for and cashier asked if we would pay that one instead. Answer was a firm no - the other pump had double the amount if fuel. We weren't going to pay for fuel we didn't have.

AngelicKaty · 03/08/2025 13:20

MillyHilly99 · 03/08/2025 13:06

I work in a petrol station. This happens more often than you think. We always refund the first customer and start the transaction as new. The staff member was absolutely in the wrong there. You were correct. Don't give or take bank details from strangers.

Thanks for confirming. Like everyone on here, I'm sure, I don't believe that this is something that has never happened before and for which there is no easy and obvious solution (the solution you have described). So what do you think the cashier's game was in trying to intimidate OP to pay shouty man? I wondered if maybe he was new to the job and panicked because he was working alone and had a queue of customers, but OP tells us his manager subsequently backed him up and said he'd done nothing wrong, which is even more bizarre.
I also wouldn't have paid shouty man - with ID verification in online banking now, OP's name would have appeared on his bank statement! 😬

TrustyRusty68 · 03/08/2025 13:19

I’d have done the same. Def wouldn’t have transferred money to anyone. Cashier made a mistake & they should’ve corrected it. Make an official complaint to the company’s head office.

topcat2014 · 03/08/2025 13:18

I've just got back from Canada, and, there, you either put your card through at pump first, or in the shop first - and it 'pre approves' the maximum you expect to draw.

BuildbyNumbere · 03/08/2025 13:18

100% the cashier should have refunded him and then billed you both correctly. Petrol station is in the wrong, I would avoid using it again.

SarBe · 03/08/2025 13:14

The error was between the petrol station cashier and the knob head that got arrested.
You were completely in the right.

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