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

[Willowcat77]

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?

The people I know in that situation were given a form to fill in, not held captive till someone could come pay.

My DP was filling up car, I went to cash point got distracted by a young girl running across forecourt as a car passed closely and completely forgot that I was supposed to go in the shop after to pay for fuel (tbf DP normally pays).

It wasn't until a police man knocked on my door a few weeks later I even recalled it .He was ok about it, the CCTV showed that it wasn't intentional theft & just advised we go along to the garage & pay.

I don't have a do,do not live within walking distance so if they had insisted on me staying,I would have insisted on a cup of tea and a chair to sit on.Annoying non stop chat until they let me go to get some money.
Not all petrol stations have Google pay.Ours has only just got contactless.
It has only happened to me once and they let me drive away to get the money.

@DramaRamaLlama

Haven’t read full thread, so sorry if someone has beaten me to it.

www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/making-off-without-payment-2/

I run a petrol station, we have had this six times this week, three did come back, the other three havent, all of them regulars. We are now £80 down, having no joy getting the money, police resources are strapped and they cant make this a priority. We only make 3 pence a litre on it so we cant afford to let it go.

We have had many people in the past promise to come back and pay and they just don't or they do it at a time convenient to them which can be weeks later, in the mean time we have staff wages to pay, stock to pay for and with low profit margins and every penny accounted for its infuriating to think we have to just trust the fact that its an honest mistake and they will come back when like I said before many just dont or its not a priority to them .

We are now in the process of adopting a strict policy for this and putting signs on he pumps just to stop people either taking the piss or dragging their heels.
It may seem daft to someone who has never done it before and has the intention of coming back but when you have a high turnover of customers in an industry like this that can be a lot of people how have never done it before it all mounts up and it can take a lot of time chasing it up and put financial strain on the business.

Just to add, we have had people leave driving licences and phones behind. Only a third came back as the phones were valuable enough but some dont want to hand them over as its to valuable to them so they leave their driving licence but then never come back.

It is the customer who has to ensure that they have means of payment before filling up not the garages. If that means checking your wallet/ purse, checking they take apple pay or fuel cards before they fill up first instead of presuming and then expecting the garage to bend over backwards for them.

Nine years of it and even the nicest customers have really pushed their luck in this area sorry, hence why we have every intention of now being what would appear to some as being a bit harsh.

So I can I just rock up to a petrol station, not pay, fill in a form and pay x7 days later? (get 7 days’ interest free credit)

Aridane It's great isn't it? Why don't more shops follow this lead? It's like going back to the 1950s when shops would let you put things on account and then you'd settle up at the end of the month. Wonder why they stopped doing that? Oh, yes, I think I know...

There is quite bizarre advice being handed out on this thread, it's irresponsible to suggest they could have used reasonable force to detain you. That is suggesting to anyone who reads this that works in a petrol station that they are entitled to manhandle customers!

It's not ideal to leave your purse for sure but clearly it happens... that's why processes like filling the form have been put in place.

@GuidoTheKillerPimp

I literally posted that I was aware that there was an offence of making off without payment . Because I'd dealt with those cases.

I was querying a posters assertion that it's an offence to fill up without having the means to pay.

I've not read the thread much beyond my posting a couple of days ago so maybe someone else chimed in but all this angst over a minor matter

Another petroleum station employee here. We do have ‘No means to pay’ forms but from what I’m aware once one is filled out it becomes a civil matter rather than a criminal one, so we do everything we can to get payment instead. This can be taken over the phone so you can call a partner, parent or friend to help you out.
One day we lost £180 in NMTP to 3 separate travellers filling up transit vans then claiming they had no money on them! We also had one customer who filled up with a tenner’s worth on 3 consecutive Thursday evenings and had their card declined, back in next afternoon to settle up once they’d been paid. Another one drove off to get his money when he realised he’d forgotten it but didn’t tell us, so we wasted time checking the cctv to file a report and preparing it.
My favourite though was the elderly couple who did a bit of shopping before paying. There was one vehicle left on the forecourt at the time, £20 fuel was outstanding at their pump. Asked if they had fuel ‘No’ came the reply. Processed their shopping and asked again, same answer. Watched them walk out and they headed to the vehicle that had the outstanding payment, ran out after them and explained that there was a fuel payment unpaid on this pump, ‘Oh yes, I did fill up’ said the gent. His wife turned to him and said ‘You TWIT!’. They apologised, came back in and paid.
Of course the garage were wrong to detain you, OP, but there are so many dishonest people about and they were probably fed up with people filling out the forms/promising to return and disappearing that they can’t make exceptions.

It's like going back to the 1950s when shops would let you put things on account and then you'd settle up at the end of the month. Wonder why they stopped doing that?

Because they introduced store cards and credit cards.

EBearhug It was a rhetorical question, hence the "Oh yes, I think I know..."

I did this once at Tesco and they were great filled in the form and went back later to pay (I was given a sensible time frame too).

It seems ridiculous! I have once forgotten my wallet - the petrol station staff were chilled, after all the cameras had recorded my registration plate so I was traceable.

I filled out a form and returned later to pay

I had a nightmare at Tesco after trying to pay with Apple pay. I had no idea their limit was £30 (it hadn't long been available) and my fuel was more. They wouldn't let my husband pay over the phone and I was given no option of a form to fill out. Instead I had to go into the main store to buy 3 gift cards in separate transactions, wait for them to go through and then pay with them. I was there for nearly 1.5 hours and was furious as there were no signs saying they took a reduced amount on Apple Pay. They still don't.

the cameras had recorded my registration plate so I was traceable.

I was also a copper in the past, people have fake plates, stick tape on their real ones to disguise the true registration number, some have a film over that glares the number to prevent it from being read.
It means nowt, like a another poster mentioned, there are just to many people who just take the piss or who are just down right dishonest so we just cant believe everyone. Its easy to say your an honest person but when you have had many people say that to you and then let you down you just cant take peoples word.
With internet banking, the ability to take payments over the phone very few people should need to leave and come back.

babypossum Sorry, but you were at fault, not Tesco. You said your experience happened when Apple Pay hadn't long been available. When it launched, the limit everywhere was £30. Apple set that, not Tesco. It was YOUR responsibility to know the restrictions of YOUR newly acquired payment option. Gradually over time retailers were allowed to change that limit but it wasn't rolled out universally. At THAT point, yes Tesco, should make it clear what their limit is. Before then, it was all on you. Your fury at Tesco was totally misplaced.

This statement is wrong: Fuelling your car without checking you have a means to pay before hand is a criminal offence

It only becomes an offence I’d you make off without payment.

Tigerlily111
People give false details, happened in our garage loads saw that trick pulled loads as a copper to.

@DramaRamaLlama

*Well they can't lawfully detain you so you'd have been within your rights to simply leave.

@lastqueenofscotland I didn't know that, do you know under which Act?*

This is literally what you posted. And as I literally posted, sorry I hadn’t read the full thread.

its still 30 on contactless isnt it?

Gabs On normal contactless debit cards, yes. Apple Pay can now, at retailer's discretion, go MUCH higher.

I use Apple Pay constantly and I’ve never seen the limit advertised as more than £30, I know retailers have the option so I presume there are places where it is more than £30 but I’ve never came across any (or just not noticed 🤷🏻‍♀️). So I’d err on the side of caution when using Apple Pay and not rely on that as a method of payment unless you’re spending under £30.

I’d actually like if more retailers did increase the limit.

I had previously used Apple Pay regularly in Aldi to pay for shopping coming to £60 odd, so I had got very used to the idea there was “no limit”. That’s why I got caught out with it in Tesco petrol station, who I now know have a £30 limit the buggers.