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AIBU?

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Original poster

'Detained' at petrol station for not having my bank card

491 replies

Willowcat77 · 31/07/2019 07:39

Yesterday I stopped at my local village petrol station to refuel. I was on my way to pick up my DS for an important hospital appointment. I am a regular customer as it is the only petrol station/shop in the area and always get my car MOT'd there. My DP has been a customer/friend of the owners for over 20 years.

I went to the counter to pay but then realised that I'd left my bank card at home. The shop assistants knew me by sight so I said I'm really sorry but I'll need to go home to get my card, my house is only 5 minutes down the road. The assistant told me no, I would have to phone someone to pay for me and that I was forbidden to leave the premises!

I was very taken aback, but I phoned my DP. Unfortunately he wasn't answering his phone so I had to leave a voicemail. There was nobody else I could phone in the area. I was very worried about missing the hospital appointment, so I tried to reason with the shop assistants. I explained the situation and offered to leave my phone and £20 cash as security whilst I fetched my card. My petrol bill was £39. They knew I was local and my DP and I have spent 1000s of pounds there over the years.

They refused, saying if necessary I would have to stay there all day until my DP came to pay for me. They said this was "the rule". I wanted to speak to the owner but he wasn't in. I have ASD and am easily panicked. I was getting later and later for the hospital appointment and could feel I was having a proper ASD meltdown. I was getting so distressed I couldn't even redial my DPs number any more and had to ask them to do it. Eventually, after about 20 minutes, DP unexpectedly arrived and paid for me. I still feel very upset and that I can't ever go there again out of embarrassment.

My DP has since found out they did something similar to an older lady recently who was also local and a regular customer.

Aibu to feel I was treated badly and to make a complaint to the owner today? What were my rights in this situation? Could I have left to get the money?

OP posts:
JammyMe · 01/08/2019 18:13

This seems very extreme and unfair!

I have done this more than once at a couple of petrol stations and they have always been happy for me to fill in a form and leave my licence with them. God knows why they treated you this wayFlowers

Alpal1 · 01/08/2019 18:15

Nearly happened to me at Big supermarket chain, but luckily I was able to raid my parking emergency money stash and just covered it as it was only a small top up fill.

Staff there said would technically be a criminal offence to drive off and said I would need to phone someone and wait if I didn’t have the cash. It was an uncomfortable moment till I found enough coins. Now I pay by card before filling up, just in case it happens again.

I didn’t blame the supermarket to want their money, but I do think it a shame that there isn’t another way of doing this. Its not a nice thing to happen and I can imagine your pain.

snowbear66 · 01/08/2019 18:15

I have been in a petrol station when the prev customer had no money to pay and he just filled a form in and was allowed to leave.
I think their behavior was appalling- they have no right to detain you.

minisoksmakehardwork · 01/08/2019 18:21

Given you are known to them, local and were getting distressed, id like to think there was an alternative, like copying your name and address down from your licence or something.

However I think this is more about them than you. I wonder if they have had a recent spate of people taking advantage of their good nature and having been stung, are now enforcing policy for everyone, regardless of how well known they are to the garage.

But then I live in a village where people fill up if the attendant isn't around and leave cash on the counter...

mathanxiety · 01/08/2019 18:22

I wouldn't be embarrassed about your near meltdown. You have a condition. It flares up (so to speak). There is nothing to be embarrassed about.

They were within their rights to ask you to find some way of paying. They probably get lots of people putting a fake address on the forms people here are talking about.

Get a pay app on your phone if you want to avoid a similar problem.

(Where I am you have to pay first either by using your card at the pump or going in and paying the cashier. You can't operate the pump until payment has been processed).

NannyOggsStripedSocks · 01/08/2019 18:25

Why did you not just walk home to get your card? If it was local surely this would have been quicker.

Happymum12345 · 01/08/2019 18:28

Bless you. Yes, complain to the owner. I hope you get over the trauma.

TakeNoSHt · 01/08/2019 18:30

Sounds like a by the book jobsworth was on shift trying to prove them self. Definitely complain, accidents happen and you were under stress worrying about the hospital appointment (which i hope went well). It not like you drove off without paying-which really you could have done and called in later with a whole pack of excuses as i have seen people do before. Can you start going to another petrol station now? Their customer service is crap

icanbewhatiwant · 01/08/2019 18:39

I haven’t read all replies, but if you were local why didn’t you leave your car and walk home for your card?
I know someone who left his wallet at home and they said he had to phone for help and couldn’t leave...he just got in his van and drove off, there was nothing the staff could do about it, he was back ten mins later with his wallet.

Whoseagooddoggiethen · 01/08/2019 18:41

Oh OP this is awful for you. It happened to me one time and when the cocky twat behind the counter would not listen to my situation (nor accept my drivers licence etc) I rang the police myself who turned up 20 mins later, sent me on my way with a promise to pay within 48 hours and they read the guy behind the counter the absolute riot act. It does happen ffs. Human error happens!

Namechange55 · 01/08/2019 18:44

I work in a fuel station. Standard practice. Can't let people leave with goods without paying

So do I and this standard practice is to get them to fill the form and ask them to leave some sort of ID, we cannot force them to leave anything or detain them!

Juliehooligan · 01/08/2019 18:48

@user1493413286
I unused to work for TESCO, and you have a week to come and pay, then it goes to court action as it’s theft after that.
It’s pretty bad that they treat their regular customers like that though.

quitefranklyivehadenough · 01/08/2019 18:51

I witnessed this happening to someone at services on A40. The guy was on his way to an interview and was almost in tears. I paid for his fuel and he paypalled me the money later that day. I get you should check before you fuel but sometimes you don't and I think it's an appalling way to treat someone.
I'd complain OP and if no apology then take your custom elsewhere xx

Schoolchoicesucks · 01/08/2019 18:51

I think they treated you appallingly OP. It's unfortunate they are your local, regular garage. How did the conversation with your do and the garage owner go? If no apology was forthcoming, I would certainly be making an effort to fill up elsewhere where possible. And to switch service & mom's elsewhere too.
I'd be expecting him to apologise and promising to train his staff better, to utilise taking customer details/reg if something similar happens again.

Elision · 01/08/2019 19:05

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mathanxiety · 01/08/2019 19:07

If you're filling up several times a week then you have ample opportunity to read the signs, Elision. A lot of people don't drive as much as you apparently do and are not as familiar as you are with the signs' content.

Kaddm · 01/08/2019 19:10

A local village station where they know you and your dh are regulars should behave better than this imo.

Elision · 01/08/2019 19:14

@mathanxiety that makes no sense at all in this context. It doesn’t matter if people read the sign or not. My point is that fueling and then not being able to pay right away for whatever reason is such a common occurrence that no way would petrol station attendants be illegally detaining people, there is a civil procedure in place to deal with the problem, and OP plus several people in this thread are making shit up and many others are falling for it for some unknown idiotic reason.

HawaiianLion · 01/08/2019 19:15

I would talk to the owner. I have been in a petrol station where they didn't know me at all. My card refused to read neither in the chip and pin nor the ATM. I filled in a form and went home for my DPs card

Aridane · 01/08/2019 19:16

I agree with Momof1

Aridane · 01/08/2019 19:19

The staff have to pay if someone drives off without paying?' What a load of shit

You're speaking shit, unfortunately. Poor waitresses / retail workers can lawfully have sums deducted from their wages for people who do 'runners'.

Personally I think it's outrageous but it's a lawful deduction from wages

Mary54 · 01/08/2019 19:21

I suspect most garages have lost money through non-paying “customers” in the past. While I understand you feel unfairly treated as a regular customer, they will have a set procedure and the staff on duty are probably not authorized to ignore it simply because they know the customer.
My daughter had a part time job in a petrol station and if this had happened on her shift and she had failed to follow the protocol, she would have had the amount docked from her wages

TinchyP · 01/08/2019 19:25

@Aridane only if the member of staff has been complicit in the 'runner' and so arguably rightly has their wages garnished.

Walkaround · 01/08/2019 19:26

@Lweji - and your point about the OP having £20 in cash is what? That this magically gave her the time to order a taxi, wait for a taxi, get a lift from a taxi, collect her wallet, go back and pay the petrol station and get to the hospital in time? All because a petrol station which knows her well and will have her details on record from her many MOTs will not accept the £20 cash and a mobile phone as security for her to come straight back to pay the £19 she owes them if she drives home in her own car? Pathetic jobsworth are the words that spring to mind for anyone thinking such an expectation is proportionate to the mistake made by a known customer. The risk of loss of money to the garage in letting her drive home was minimal. The risk of damage to their reputation and future loss of earnings if the OP now goes out of her way to avoid them after their deliberate humiliation of her was exceptionally high.

Tomkinz · 01/08/2019 19:28

Lot of twaddle on here repeating phrases like "it is an offence to not have the means to pay". Just because it says that on a petrol pump doesn't make it the law...

Theft isn't straight forward. The Crown Prosecution service sets the following test before taking action on theft;

  • According to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people, was what was done dishonest?
  • If it was dishonest by those standards, did the defendant realise that reasonable and honest people would regard the conduct as dishonest?

Not realising that you don't have money when it comes to paying is NOT an offence. It becomes an offence if you don't pay for it within a reasonable time.

The employees may have been acting within "policy" but they can't act unlawfully and what they did nearly crossed that boundary. They may have said "that's the rule" but if they had made ANY attempt to arrest you by getting hold of you, or by falsely imprisoning you by locking the door, you could have sued them and won as you had not at that time committed an offence.

You were perfectly entitled to walk out having told them you would return to pay. They were perfectly entitled to make a note of your registration number.

Going back to my quote from the CPS; then after a few days/a week, and you hadn't paid, then you'd have crossed the "theft" threshold as at that point your actions had met the test for theft.