Bermondsey lorry driver ‘disgusted’ after being charged £90 while buying £20 of petrol

A Bermondsey lorry driver is “disgusted” after he was allegedly charged £90 when buying £20 worth of petrol at the Old Kent Road Asda.

Micky Southion, 51, who had to borrow money from his mum, said Asda’s reconciliatory £5 voucher “was barely enough for a meal deal”. 

Recounting the disastrous outing, he said: “I’ve filled up then gone up the road. I’ve just checked my bank account and all my money’s gone. I’ve gone: ‘Jesus Christ it’s all gone!’”

The problem boils down to a pre-authorisation system, which sees Mastercard and Visa charge customers a pre-purchase fee to ensure they have enough money in their account. 

The money is normally returned to the customer within hours but Micky says he didn’t get his money back for four days.

Southwark Council has previously identified Old Kent Road as one of the borough’s most deprived areas along with North Walworth, Peckham and Nunhead & Queens Road. 

Micky said: “For some people, it doesn’t matter and they don’t even look at their bank accounts but for people around here £90 is a lot of money.”

Retailers don’t have any option to opt out of the system if they want to allow Visa and Mastercard users to pay at the pump.

If customers want to avoid this happening they should use the traditional pumps, rather than the ones with card readers, and pay at the counter.

ASDA was approached for comment and explained the pre-authorisation system.