Undercharged petrol - now being fined

[ToPaytheFine]

Hi - I was undercharged for fuel and didnt notice, just tapped and left. I have received a letter and cctv footage which shows me paying. On checking bank statement it turns out I only paid 1p. I didnt check the amount and am 100% OK with paying the full amount, but don't see why I should pay the debt collectors "admin fee" which stood at £30.

I have rung them and they've offered to drop the fine to £10. But should I even pay that? Anyone know consumer law and if it's different for garages as they have told me?

Before I get told, yes I will certainly be more careful checking amounts in future!

I drive in my distance/driving glasses. I can see road signs and probably the nice big pump-sized numbers, but not a chance of seeing teeny digits on a payment device.

It’s a life filled with mystery.

I would make a payment to them now for the full amount of fuel and state clearly that you won’t pay the fine for their/the cashier’s error. Then make them chase you for only the £10 fine. I bet they write it off.

While the fuel amount is still outstanding they’ll argue til they’re blue in the face but if they’ve already received a payment then they’d be putting a lot of energy into chasing you for £10 that you don’t owe.

I always know exactly what the cost is when I refuel the car I can't believe you don't look!
I can see why they thought it was intentional.

I also always know how much it is mainly cos I have 'issues' and need to try and round it up to the nearest cent.

Honestly, pay the £10. You have a lot to lose but little to gain.

But why?! Somebody's equipment and/or payment processing system was faulty, so why on earth should you pay them a fine? If anything, they should be made to pay the customer a fine for the inconvenience of having to come back to pay the remainder of what they actually owe, that was not correctly processed at the time.

As for them declaring OP a 'drive-off' case - how many actual drive-off cases of theft involve the thief offering their card to the payment machine and just hoping that it might not be working properly?

I wouldn't pay on principle, even if they wanted to charge me a penny as a 'fine' for having to use their faulty equipment; but the people saying that a tenner is hardly any money at all are clearly coming at it from a position of privilege: I've had times in the past where £10 (or less) has been the total of what I owe for the fuel I've bought, when that's all I can afford - never mind the petrol station or their hoons wanting an extra tenner for their trouble.

I think OP is being perfectly fair in willingly paying the due uncharged amount for the actual fuel purchased. I'll bet if it was a case of having been overcharged, the petrol station would say "tough, we can't do anything once you've left the premises".

I'm very sorry, I just pressed the yabu vote button by accident.

You can change your vote, just press YANBU.

Actually a lot of petrol stations charge a 1p authorisation to people’s cards then the actual amount is supposed to update when the transaction clears from pending to permanent on your card. Some petrol stations charge £100 then update the correct amount when it clears. It’s their error not yours. It’s the petrol station that does the charging not you not the card provider.

I’d also make sure to check all statements there was an incident where Asda didn’t process transactions to people’s cards until a year later about 3 years ago I think. They are still valid transactions even when applied later but if their system did not update the amount after the initial auth being done it’s their error.

You would think the pumps have proper time indicators on them. This situation could happen in a chain each customer paying for the last lol.

My husband had something similar. He put in £10 into our smart car. ( doesn't take much to fill up). He went inside to pay, as he didn't want the £100 holding for paying at the pump. Told the cashier he was at no 1, but got told no must be no 7 ,as no 1 had just paid. Husband pointed to smart car at pump 1 , and then cashier noticed very large van pulling away from pump 7 that had just paid our £10 , and driven off with £150 of petrol. He looked very panicked.
Took the cashier ages to sort out how to put in the £10 for us to pay, without charging us the £150.

Yes definitely not your responsibility. My local automatised pumps charge £1.00 onto card then right amount comes through on my bank statement. But the display is there to show the fee rising with the filling. Even so in your case just insist on paying for the fuel and challenge the charge it shouldn’t be insisted on why should you pay for previous customers behaviour? It’s obvious you are being honest by paying the difference.

@ToPaytheFine If you work at the CAB, why not ask the experts rather than MNers ?

How did large van get away from pump which they used and pay only £10.00? Did the driver dash over to the other pump and pay then dash back to drive off? 1 to 7 not next to each other!

@mustgetoffmn did you read the post at all? He went into the kiosk and said he was at number 1.

(Name-changed as my colleagues may take a dim view of me commenting on here, but bullies are my pet peeve #1.)

Ooof, what a nasty little practice!
If you had paid MORE in paying for a previous customer's fuel than you were actually liable for, would they have contacted you to refund the difference? I've never heard of that one.

Suggest you deal with the garage directly, phone call backed by email afterwards summarizing the conversation no matter what the outcome, to the tune of:
Thank you for informing me of your mistake. I am happy to rectify the situation and pay what I owe for my fuel. Please make the necessary arrangements to stop any collection action and associated fees. Politely, obviously.

If they refuse, I would state that you are happy to attend court, bringing evidence that you paid what they asked at the time you filled up, plus the evidence you sought to rectify at the soonest opportunity once you had been made aware of their mistake, and that you will additionally be seeking full costs.

It's a conversation and costs you nothing more than you actually owe them.

If they mention "police", ignore it. It is not a police matter at all and the word is often used in a situation to scare someone into doing something.

This does NOT constitute legal advice so please have a chat with a solicitor if you're still unsure. Best of luck.

Twice since covid hit I have paid at pump & neither amounts were taken from my account.
The initial £99 was ring-fenced then I waited 2 weeks for the actual amount to clear. All that happened was the ring fenced amount dropped back onto my balance.
I have receipts showing I paid at pump, one was for £54 & one for £89, but even after contacting Asda they say I don’t owe them anything as the bill has shown on their end as paid despite it not actually coming out of the ring-fenced money in my account.
I’m grateful for the breathing space it gave me because at the time my finances were allover the place.
I avoid pay at pump now.
If you have paid & they have proof of you paying they can’t claim you are a ‘drive off’ & I’d seek legal advice.
How long ago did the incident happen?

My sentiments too.
CF company just pushing their luck imo

Always ask for a receipt.

The van guy went in and paid for pump 1, which my husband had just finished at. As my husband went in to pay, the van guy paid the £10 on our pump and left.
Not sure if he just messed up the numbers 1 and 7, or he deliberately paid the lesser amount. ( knowing our little car wouldn't be able to hold that much).
The cashier only realised when my husband told him he was in to pay pump 1, and the only pump not paid for on the computer was pump 7. He looked out and only saw our smart car at pump 1 and van guy pulling off from pump 7.
Cashier ran out to stop the van guy, but he speed off.
If my husband hadn't queried it, we could have ended up paying the £150 for the other guy.

It’s worth reading this and letting her know about it if she always pays at pump…

https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2023/mar/15/paying-for-petrol-at-the-pump-can-plunge-you-into-the-red

honestly you can’t bloody win!

Why would you pay the £30 when they've offered to accept £10?

this could easily be me . I never pay at the pump. I know how much fuel
input in but take no notice of my tap and go

You paid the amount they charged you. Many people don't look at the cost, just the amount of fuel, after all, who'd have thought you only put a pennyworth of fuel in your vehicle...eh?
Once you pay the fine you're admitting liability. It's the fault of the garage for the pump not registering the correct amount, therefore they should just let you pay for the true amount of fuel, not a penny more.

I would pay what is owed for fuel. Not a chance I would be paying the fine, even if it is small. Their mistake!
Yes I am stubborn.