'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?

I worked in a petrol station as a student. We had the forms that could be filled in if a customer had no means of payment, you would be suprised how many people never came back to pay!!
If you allow the customer to leave the premises then the police wont chase it up, we were told we must keep the customer there until someone can bring payment and if they cant get someone to bring it then we should call the police.
We were told to use our own discretion but some places may stick rigidly to that rule and I don't blame then, the profit margin on fuel is tiny and the amount of theft between drive offs and non means of payment that never return is quite high!

I don't think they have a right to physically detain you ...however the petrol is theirs therefore they maybe within their rights to keep the car, until you have paid for the petrol. Suppose it was a food shop ....would you expect to walk out with a trolley full of shopping on the promise that you 'll come back later to pay for it.

I am sorry you were so stressed but I am sure they were only following the garage policy.

As someone who ran a service station for many years and worked for an oil company later on, I can tell you that if all that you say is accurate you were treated very badly!
(if you had a record of having done this before and not going back to pay maybe it would be different.)

A few things to note from my extensive experience:

• Most people are honest.
• The police are not interested AT ALL.
• it is NOT illegal as has been said to fuel a car and not have payment - it's just a human MISTAKE. (Though it's illegal to pay using a method that you know won't be honoured by a bank - cheque etc).
• It would not have been illegal for you to have left the premises with a promise to return with payment. It's only illegal if your intention is to permanently deny the garage payment. - I would suggest that it may be wise in this modern age to record a conversation on your phone in which you promise to return with payment inside a certain timeframe. That way if they did call the police you could replay your intention to pay. But I reiterate: The police don't care!

In the industry this is a daily occurrence at every service station, and we've all done it (including me). Don't beat yourself up and don't be embarrassed, but please do speak with the service station manager so they can get a process in place to save others this misery.

If you don't get sympathy and an apology from the service station I would suggest a call to the local newspaper. It's quite shocking how you were treated.

You CAN become cynical working in service stations, because everyone needs fuel and nobody really thinks it's worth the money, but as a regular customer you should have been trusted after maybe just leaving your name and phone number.

But ignore all negative comments about what happened. You made a common mistake, didn't mean to, weren't given the chance to correct it, and were really disrespected.

I think in such a situation I'd have called the police myself - they'd have been far more interested in you being held against your will than they would have about the fuel payment!

This is shocking, OP- both your treatment and the ridiculous replies some have chosen to post. It is not a moral failing or anything to be embarrassed about, it was a simple mistake in a busy life which happens to everyone. If it had been me treated like that I would still be there, as there is no-one I could call on to bail me out. (I would actually have left, as they cannot physically detain you).
My lovely son filled up with petrol, tired after work one day recently and drove home having completely forgotten to pay. Only realised what he had done later while he was cooking the tea and a charming policeman knocked on the door to tell him. PC said it happens all the time. With number plate recognition which most garages have now, they trace you very easily. Son drove back straight away and paid, of course 😁
No biggie, as they say!

I do understand that from the petrol stations point of view the frustration of this happening is very great but I don't think detaining the customer is a viable route to go as I'm not sure it is legal for them to detain someone using citizens arrest & it also places staff unfairly in a confrontational role with customers.

On a positive note. My niece did her food shopping in Tesco. Went to their service station and filled her car. Realised she couldn’t pay as she’d forgotten to pick up her card after paying for her shopping. She told the service station staff what had happened and ran back to get it . Returned to pay to find the lady behind her in the service station queue had paid for my nieces petrol and left before my niece could either protest or thank her. Heartwarming I think.

I find this stuff fascinating.
My teacher was teaching us about the Theft Act.
He said theft is in two parts.
An alien lands his craft in Tescos carpark.
On his world, anyone who is hungry is entitled to go into a shop and take two items of food for free.
The Alien trots into Tescos and trots back out with a packet of crisps and a Mars bar.
Has it stolen them?
No!
He has committed the act of theft by taking them without paying - Actus Reus (sorry if thats misspellt)
..but has not committed the guilty mind. (Mens Rea).
To commit the guilty mind, he has to intend to permanently deprive the owner of it knowing he does not have a right to it. - as he thought he was entitled to the crisps and Mars bar - no theft.

Lady wanders into a garage and helps herself to £20 of petrol - intending to pay for it - Act of theft by taking it - No guilty mind - No theft.
Finds she has no money and goes to tell the attendants she will pay later - Committed the act of theft, but not the guilty mind - so no theft.
On the way to the attendant she changes her mind and decides to make off without paying - at that point she commits theft.
Police must prove both parts beyond reasonable doubt and so look for evidence that you deliberately did not pay - screachy tyres wheel marks off the forecourt etc.

Walking in and offering to pay in a few hours - no intent to permanently deprive - no theft.

If you then decide several hours later not to pay, then at that point theft has been committed. Obviously, this did not happen.

Willowcat simply did not commit theft at the garage.

Assad your teacher maybe left out a big thing - dishonesty and how am kirt assesses that and to what standard. Objective or subjective etc. Leading case for decades ‘ghosh’. Now ‘ivey’ (Casino case) one of the biggest changes in Crim law of recent years.
Crim barrister here. It is interesting !

‘And how a court ‘ that was supposed to read !

We also looked at PACE - the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
Our focus was powers of arrest and bail.
We discovered that the police have the right to pretty much arrest anyone - even a victim for their own protection. That one really stuck in my mind as ridiculous.
We then covered citizens arrests.
I walked out of that with the understanding that a citizen could arrest anyone for committing an offence that is punishable with a prison sentence of at least 5 years.
Theft act states 5 years - rarely enforced, but 5 years.
Stealing petrol would come under that act.
However....As Willowcat offered to pay albeit later, so no theft had been committed, any citizens arrest would be classed as false arrest.

There is a caveat to that in the fact that someone suspected of theft can be held until the manager arrives. I do not understand why , but would be astonished if it is for an indefinite period.

This covers being unable to leave, whether you actually know it at the time or not, and does not need locked doors, chains or assault.

Detaining anyone for any length of time without the right to do so is actionable. So far as I understand, this can be both civil and criminal and the onus would also be on the staff to prove they had the right.

I may be wrong, but I believe that you would be within your rights to complain to the police about this and expect to see action taken.

Complaining to the owner would be being nice.

If I have made any mistakes in this, please fix them as I am no expert.

I used to do this at least once a week at my
Local petrol station. Because I’d picked up
A different bag threat morning, or I’d take my card out to internet shop and not put it back, or had taken my card to put in file in dp’s Car the night before and left my card in the car.

As it was I put fuel in daily at this garage (drove a stupid amount of miles for my job daily), so each member of staff knew me. I would walk in and say ‘Guess what....’, they’d laugh and say ‘tell dp we’ll see him later’. So thankfully they knew how stupid I was, and knew they would also have the money before cashing up. You’d think I would learn! 🙈. How I love Apple Pay- I never forget my phone!!

How awful. I have also seen this happen and normally you fill in a form and they photocopy your driving license.

I would never go there again and put in a complaint to the owner.

Thanks shatners didnt know that wonder if google pay is the same

I don’t find that endearingly ditsy/ cute, just a bit embarrassing

This is a business and businesses run partly on goodwill but mostly on cashflow. So by all means make your feelings known to the owner the next time you see him in the post office or whatever, but frankly you haven’t got anything to complain about at law, hospital appointments and ASD notwithstanding.

lady
Ops dh will.have spoken to the manager by now as he has been his friend for 20 yrs kind of puts a different slant on things doesn't it?

Op isnt a stranger but a regular customer in a village garage and didn't try to not pay. They had no right to detain her when she wanted to pay.

asdad theft has maximum available of 7 years not 5.
Re powers of arrest which you said you found ridiculous - remember arrest is not always followed by being charged with an offence which may help you understand Arrests can be to prevent an offence etc.

Two things to say.
No matter whatever rush you are in, do not put the staff of the petrol station in such a situation. I don't think they handled it well, but it wasn't of their making.
Life is for real, and acting the 'dizzy lizzie' by finding out you haven't got the means to pay after taking petrol is your own fault.
There are parallels, such as in many pubs you now have to pay for meals as you order them, and the time will come when, at petrol stations, you will need to put a valid card (or valid cash) into a meter before it will work.
Forget the excuses, just make sure you have the funds before you 'take' the goods.

at petrol stations, you will need to put a valid card (or valid cash) into a meter before it will work.
I'm actually wondering why these are not more common in the UK. They are really common in a lot of countries in the mainland Europe and very convinient.

This is outrageous and I would be very angry about it too. But, having said that, they cannot stop you from leaving -- that would be assault and/or kidnapping. So I would have have shrugged and left, coming back later to pay the bill. And then I would tell the owners what happened. You can't be "detained" by a petrol station attendant. They do not have that authority,

I'm actually wondering why these are not more common in the UK. They are really common in a lot of countries in the mainland Europe and very convinient.

So that you have to go into the shop to pay, where you end up buying other items. The cost of installing the technology is also a barrier.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-46094938

So that you have to go into the shop to pay, where you end up buying other items
But then again you can have cold station that requires no staff. And make savings that way. Yes, it is expensive to install the technology but it would pay itself back. I just think it's surprising that it's the norm in several places where it wouldn't be anymore expensive.

The article is quoting the commercial manager of the Petrol Retailers' Association so it seems that they don't agree with you about the potential savings!

.

Thank you Heron