SINGAPORE: The incident at a Caltex petrol station involving a BMW driver and an elderly pump attendant was "a case of miscommunication", said the police on Monday (Apr 16).

They added that the driver had been due to trade in his car on Saturday, and had not required more fuel than necessary.



"We have looked into the matter and established that no offence was disclosed," said the police in response to Channel NewsAsia's queries.



"It was a case of miscommunication between the pump attendant and the vehicle owner on the amount of petrol to be pumped. We have verified that the vehicle owner was due to trade in his vehicle on the same day and would not require more than necessary fuel.



"Both parties have been advised to settle the matter amicably.”

The BMW driver has filed a police report, however, worried for his safety after netizens identified him and posted his personal details online.



The incident went viral over the weekend after Facebook user Kelly Yeo posted an account of what happened at the Tampines Avenue 8 petrol station. According to her, the driver of a BMW Series 5 vehicle had refused to pay S$135 for his petrol because he said he had only asked for S$10 worth.

The elderly pump attendant calmly informed the cashier to let the customer pay S$10 and he would personally absorb the rest of the cost, she said in her Facebook post.

Many netizens slammed the driver, with some volunteering to pay the S$125 on behalf of the elderly worker. Others questioned why the driver would pump only S$10 worth of petrol.



According to a Shin Min Daily News report, the driver said he had specifically gone to top up just S$10 worth of petrol as the journey from Tampines to Jurong, where he was going to trade in the BMW, was "fairly far".



He told the Straits Times that after reading some of the comments about the incident, he decided to file a police report as he was "afraid that these people will come to my house". The driver was also quoted saying he had received "many nuisance calls, SMSes and WhatsApp messages".



Caltex Singapore had earlier taken to Facebook to assure online users that the elderly attendant "did not bear any financial obligation" due to the incident.

In an update on Monday, the company said it was aware that a police report had been lodged.

"This is now a police matter and we will work closely with authorities in that respect," Caltex said.

"In the meantime, we would respectfully request the community's cooperation in refraining from any personal or group responses towards those involved and leave the matter to appropriate authorities."



