To not transfer money at petrol station

[Phugs]

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?

Sorry ignore me! Misread it!

l agree! You can’t order something and then be expected to pay for something else someone else bought. I hope he got done for drink driving too.

I don't think it is necessarily a scam and it is most likely a mistake, but whatever it had nothing to do with you. Tbe cashier probably did nor have the authority to issue refunds. Shouty man I am guessing paid too much which would explain his anger, but he was directed it at the wrong person

But without the police having reason to believe they’ve committed or may have committed a criminal offence they can’t arrest them?

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I don't have banking on my phone so he'd have been screwed if he asked me.
Yes you could have paid them but why the hell should you? It was his error not yours. The petrol station sound fucking useless too. I'm sure they could have refunded and solved the whole issue.
I hope you're okay.

Do let us know what happens!

Guessing more! At least £70

Report the petrol station to their head office. This sounds like a fairly unsophisticated scam, involving the "customer " and the cashier.

OP, I’m horrified that the petrol station staff tried to pressure you to refund the man. It was 100% on them to rectify the situation. Definitely follow up with Shell as this is outrageous. I hope you’re okay after what sounds like a horrible experience.

How awful for you. I would 100% be following this up with the garage owners. They were completely in the wrong here.

Gosh you must have been scared. I just spoke to ds1 who worked in a petrol station when he was a student and he agrees that it sounds like a scam.

Me too!

I was wondering how it could be a scam, so glad you said this, makes total sense and doesn’t sound too far fetched. People can be so sneaky.

Definitely not your fault and you did the right thing.

Not sure it was a scam but the petrol station just wanting to make their own lives easy. If you had sent money to him, would they have insisted he then pay for his own? I suspect they’d have had trouble!

I reckon he was kicking off because he thought he’d got a bargain paying less than the bill for the fuel he actually had.

You're not on the wrong. And personally if you want to be petty- I know I would- I'd publicise what happened everywhere you can because the cashier was completely out of order.

It's always telling how quickly police can turn up to some incidents.
it's almost as if they have a "favoured artist" system ....

The OP was in imminent risk of real harm. I'd expect them to prioritise that over say investigating a burglary that has already happened and there is no chance of catching the burglary.

Petrol stations have been used for scams in the past, a lot of bank card scams took place at petrol stations

This is exactly what I thought!

A thought- OP eventually paid for her fuel. Shouty man claimed he’d paid for petrol so petrol station ‘short’ by small amount.
However if OP had transferred money shouty man would have her name bank details card details and mobile number.
Further the pump number registers on the till and OPs car sat by that pump.
This is a nasty scam between the fellow on the till and this man.
Get a crime number and report to Head Office including the harassment.

And just occurred to me - shouty man would also get OPs car registration so could contact DVLA and get her home address

Good idea

The cashier should have been the one calling the police to protect themselves. Saying they can’t refund and then magically sort it.
round my way we have had fake card machines in petrol stations so the card gets cloned and then used elsewhere.

The DVLA don't just hand out addresses to anyone, despite what it seems like...

Only post on the local Facebook group if you can do so anonymously.