JEDDAH, 27 December 2004 — Attendants at many gas stations tend to take advantage of motorists’ carelessness or lack of awareness to cheat them when they fill the tank, a survey shows.
Most gas station employees do not set the gas meter at zero before they start filling the tank. More often than not, they leave the meter at SR2 or SR5, thus raking in huge amounts of money for themselves at the end of the day.
Hassan Al-Zabidi, a driver and victim of the fraud, said: “It happened to me once. I remember I was on the phone when I pulled over to a gas station. I remember that my tank was half empty and I would need gas worth about SR15. I was surprised when the attendant asked for SR25, which is what I usually pay when my car is three quarters empty. I told him that there was some kind of a mistake that was not supposed to happen. I thought gas prices had jumped in one day and I paid it and drove off. Later I was told by a friend that it was a trick the attendants played on unwary motorists in order to earn extra money for themselves.”
Muhammad Al-Harbi, another victim, said: “I was waiting in line to fill my car. The attendant asked me to go to a particular pump where I noticed that the meter was set at SR10. I thought the attendant would reset the meter at zero and I waited until he filled the tank. Instead of charging me SR35, which is normal when my car is empty, he charged me SR45. I got mad at him and refused to pay and accused him of cheating. He tried to reason with me and convince me that he was not cheating. I refused to move my car and demanded to see the manager of the gas station or call the police. When I mentioned police, they told me that I could pay SR35 if that was what I wanted. Which tells a lot about their trick.”
Bandar Al-Sufi said: “I was waiting in a gas station when I saw a driver talking on a cell phone while pulling over to fill his tank. The attendant did not start the meter at zero; instead he started filling with SR4 on the meter. The poor driver was busy talking on the phone and did not probably notice that he paid and additional SR4.”
Abdul Majeed, a Bangladeshi gas station attendant, said most workers use this trick because they are working for long hours and are underpaid. “I advise all drivers to take a look at the meter before they start filling the car. As for gas station owners, they should look at the situation of workers because we are terribly underpaid given the long hours we put in.”
