ONE man thought he nabbed a huge bargain when filling up his car at a Tesco petrol pump after seeing only £1 come out of his account.
With petrol prices continuing to soar, it’s no wonder he was excited to stock up on the alleged cheap fuel – but the initial price wasn’t what it seemed.
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The man, named Mike J Ind, visited a Tesco petrol station to put £10 worth of fuel in his vehicle.
After checking his bank account, Mike saw only £1 had been taken out, leading him to believe he had found a massive bargain.
Making sure not to miss out on the supposed offer, Mike took another three trips to the petrol pump, filling up multiple vehicles.
And each time he filled up, his account was debited just £1.
Happy with his find, Mike took to Facebook on June 25 to share the alleged good news.
He said: “It was my lucky day today as I put a tenner of fuel in and noticed it only took £1 on my card, so I went back round and filled it right up, again just £1 taken.
“Went home and swapped cars over and filled that up and another £1, so I filled the last car up and another £1. Three cars full for £4 so I put it on a couple of chats, I am letting people know.”
But it didn’t take long for fellow Facebook users to point out that this isn’t the great deal Mike thought it was after all.
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Regular Tesco fuel customers will likely know that £1 is taken out of their accounts when filling up at a pump as a pre-authorisation check.
The pre-authorisation check ring fences cash to cover the cost of the fuel when people choose to pay at the pump.
But you won’t ever pay more than what you owe – the money is held temporarily until the exact amount you fill up on is charged.
This means that Mike was eventually charged the £40 he owed for his four separate trips.
Seeing the humour in the situation, Mike said: “Thought it was too good to be true. Never get anything in life for free and I don’t know how I managed to get this far in life.”
The post was liked by 3.5K Facebook users, shared 4.6K times, and has amassed 3.9K comments so far.
Some commenters noted that they have been caught out by this before, with others noting how much Mike’s post made them laugh.
And yesterday, June 29, Mike added a new post to Facebook, saying: “Glad my moment has made people laugh a bit, even if it was at my expense which I don’t mind, as life is short so sometimes we need to remember to laugh and have fun.”
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