A SELF-SERVICE petrol station temporarily charging drivers an extra £60 on top of the cost of their fuel has been branded “unfair.”

Alan Goward is among the drivers to get the hefty pre-authorisation fee added to his bill after putting £15 worth of petrol in his car at the Breeze garage in Newport Street, Old Town.

In total it cost him £75, some of which was taken from his overdraft, but he has been reassured the £60 will appear back in his account this week and is done to tackle fraud.

“I couldn’t believe it when I realised on Sunday. I checked my online banking and thought ‘Hang on a minute,’” said Alan, who is a carer to his wife Susan.

“I was overdrawn and I thought my balance should never be that low. I worked out, as I keep a spreadsheet on my laptop, there was a £60 difference.

“I rang my bank to ask them what was going on and they confirmed it was from the garage.”

Although the 63-year-old from Wroughton appreciates it is done for fraud reasons, he is angry at the lack of warning and worried about the financial situation it may leave others.

“I don’t see why I should be overdrawn. I might have needed that money to visit a sick relative,” the grandfather said.

“They have brought in the new rules but there was no warning. What they’ve said is that it was on the card reader and I should have seen it, but it wasn’t on my receipt.

“I have since learned in the last two or three days more people have been stung. I’m still waiting for my money back.”

And he added: “I will never use the garage again. From what other people have said they will not use it again either.”

But Ian Woodcock, retail director for Harvest Energy which operates the garage, said their hands are tied and the fee is imposed by Visa, which has to pay the debt of drivers who take more fuel than they can afford as there is a delay when payment is taken out of bank accounts.

“I feel hard done by as it is something that is enforced by Visa,” said Ian, explaining that unless someone has £60 in their account the pumps will not activate.

“The money is not taken from the account and does not come to us, it is just ring-fenced by the bank.

“It was introduced this month by Visa across Europe and is done at other pay at the pump places like Tesco."

Keen to make sure people are not put off using the garage, Ian added: "We have made changes to alleviate the problem."