paying for petrol

[stephen2504]

i was just wondering what would happen if you went into a petrol station and put a full tank of petrol in and when you went to pay there was insufficent funds on your visa card and you had no cash

[priceyclause]

In the past when that's happened to me I have just had to show them some sort of ID (with name and address on), they've taken the details and just told me to come back and pay it asap.

I have heard other stories of the police being called thou!

[PinkPaisley]

I believe that you would commit an offence. If you chose to drive away without paying you would certainly be committing theft (for some obscure reason, this is called "bilking").

In practice, I have done this and it's VERY embarrassing. It would be a pretty inflexible garage owner that reported this if you made every attempt to pay or to make arrangements to do so. When I did this I left my name, telephone number, registration number and address with the cashier along with a promise to return within 24 hours (in fact I returned within 15 minutes). I imagine supermarkets must have a policy for dealing with this as I'm sure that it is a fairly common occurrence.

PP

[Lily_b]

When this happened to my OH, they let him borrow the office phone to call me and I paid over the phone on my card.

[jimmonas]

every petrol station should provide you with a form to fill out (but they always say they haven't) and you have three days to return with the money

[Panic Button]

I had filled my car up and opened my wallet to find my credit card and Switch card had been stolen, and the wallet replaced in my jacket.

The cashiers could probably tell I was genuine from the state of me. There was little fuss.

Just made me fill in a form promising to pay within 24 hours. I was back within the hour.

[Toureman]

Did you panic then, panic?

[Grunty]

PinkPaisley - the reason that this offence has a special name is that it is not really theft, although it is sometimes referred to as a form of theft. The reason is that at the time you take the petrol, you have the company's consent to do so. When you get to the till, you can hardly give it back, so ownership has to pass to you at an earlier stage. The same thing happens in a restaurant, where the proprietor would be unimpressed to have the consumed food returned. You have a debt, but it was criminalised a few years ago.

[dinoboxer]

It is in fact an offence to put fuel in your tank knowing that you do not have sufficient funds to pay for the said fuel, however if this is a genuine mistake the Petrol Station will normally take various details from you and allow you to settle the bill later. If the Police are called and they are satisfied that there is no criminal intent they would merly follow the guidelines of the fuel station