SINGAPORE: After the driver of a car registered in Singapore left a petrol station in Skudai, Johor Bahru, without paying the bill, its operator took to Facebook to find the errant driver.
However, a commenter, allegedly the son of the driver, said on Facebook that the incident occurred due to a miscommunication between his parents, and that the payment would be made.
On the SGRV FRONT MAN Facebook page on Jan 22, a post said that Caltex Skudai R&R was looking for the owner of a certain Lexus, posting photos of the vehicle, which indeed had a Singapore number plate.
“A Singapore-registered vehicle has filled petrol at our station and left the location without making payment.
Our employees tried to stop the vehicle, and a nearby vehicle honked to warn the driver, but the vehicle did not slow down,” the post read.
The post author asked the vehicle’s owner to contact the station as soon as possible to pay the bill of RM139.01 (around S$44.50), according to the receipt included in the post.
They added that if the owner of the Lexus failed to respond within 48 hours, a police report would be filed.
“Over the past 5 years, tens of thousands of customers — including Malaysians and Singaporeans — have visited Caltex Skudai R&R.
We will continue to provide the best service to all customers, regardless of where they come from.
We believe this incident may have been a mistake and hope it can be resolved nicely,” the post author added.
As it turns out, it appears that the non-payment of the petrol bill had been a mistake all along.
Shortly after the post was put up on the SGRV FRONT MAN FB account, a commenter wrote, “Hi SGRV. There was a miscommunication between my mum and dad regarding the payment. We apologise for the mistake. We will proceed to contact the station to arrange payment. Thank you for letting us know!”
Following the clarification and apology, the original Facebook post was removed.
According to a Jan 28 (Thursday) report in Mothership, the owner of the Lexus has indeed reached out to the operator of the Caltex station at Skudai, and the bill has been settled.
An employee at the station told China Press that the man driving the Lexus had asked for a full tank, and while the car was being filled up, the man’s wife entered the station’s convenience store. Reports say that the man may have assumed that the woman paid the bill, as she had bought some items at the store.
It’s fortunate that the bill has been settled. According to the New Straits Times, the employee on duty could have been made to pay the bill had the owners of the Lexus failed to settle the payment. /TISG
