Alleged defaulter does not have to pay for refuelling

A woman who allegedly did not pay for a 75.85 refuelling at a BP petrol station does not have to pay it by the court. Although she drove her car, she was not driving it herself at the time and the filling up was also done by someone else.

The case involved a refuelling where the person who performed it reported to the station’s cash register but did not pay for the fuel. The BP station engaged SODA to collect the amount. The latter wanted to recover the money for this as well as the cost of administration and declaration from the owner of the car. However, this amount of now 206.85 euros was not paid, following which SODA went to court.

In opposition to SODA’s claim that the woman filled up without paying, it claimed that on that day, someone else was driving the car.“That person then offered to the cashier to go and get money to pay and leave his driving licence as a deposit. This proposal was refused by the cashier,” said the summary of the plea in the court order. Because of what she considers false accusations made against her, the woman is demanding, among other things, damages of 1,000 euros.

Not refuelling herself

According to SODA, refuelling created an agreement between the two parties on which the claims for payment are based. The parties agree that the woman’s car was refuelled, but with the available video footage and photos, it was also easy to prove that it was not she herself but a man who did the refuelling. She therefore did not refuel and therefore there can be no such agreement, the court said. Nor is she responsible or liable for the damages and additional costs suffered by the filling station.

In turn, a compensation of 1,000 euros for the woman, the investigator felt, was going too far. While the accusation and lawsuit are annoying and ultimately unjustified, her car was filled up without being paid for. That this leads to charges being filed is not crazy, the judge said.