The fear of being hunted down as the subject of a highly viral controversy is real, and the man who found suddenly found himself the target of the nation’s hate has lodged a police report for his family’s safety.
As these cases usually go, netizens managed to find out the identity of the driver accused of taking advantage of an elderly pump attendant at a Caltex petrol station in Tampines. On Saturday, a woman witnessed the driver of the BMW Series 5 sedan going up to a cashier insisting that a pump attendant had misunderstood his instructions and filled up a full tank worth S$135 despite being asked to fill only S$10 worth. Wanting to avoid a row, the pump attendant said that he’d pay for the excess of S$125. Satisfied, the BMW driver walked away scot-free with a full tank of petrol.
The “10 Dollar Driver”
Well, not exactly scot-free. The woman took to the Facebook page of Caltex Singapore to write about the incident, and that post went phenomenally viral over the next few days. Since the incident, online sleuths uncovered his identity and posted his personal details and pictures online, calling out for justice against the “10 Dollar Driver”.
Folks even managed to track down where his car was parked, posting pictures of the BMW car and its whereabouts.
The man in the middle of the furor himself has since broken his silence to The Straits Times, claiming that he has become the victim of “many nuisance calls, SMSes and WhatsApp messages”. One of the more amusing prank messages went viral as well.
A day after the incident, the driver filed a police report after looking at some of the vicious comments made online about him, anxious that “these people will come to (his) house”.
In the police report, which was seen by ST, the man basically repeated the same thing — he mentioned that the pump attendant heard him say “full tank” despite him telling the pump attendant only “10 dollars”. But why only S$10 worth of petrol? According to the driver’s statement, he was going to trade in his car afterwards — the driver stated that he left the petrol station after making the payment and went to an automotive trader.
“No offence was disclosed”
In a conclusion that would no doubt disappoint many, the police found no fault at all with the BMW driver, establishing that “no offence was disclosed”.
“It was a case of miscommunication between the pump attendant and the vehicle owner on the amount of petrol to be pumped,” said the police to ST.
“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.”
As such, the police have also advised both parties to settle the matter amicably.
Disbelief
Despite the fact that Caltex itself has assured the public that the pump attendant would not need to fork out the S$125 and that official police investigations found nothing wrong in the end, netizens aren’t willing to let it go. The anger is now directed at the driver’s ungraciousness — he did let the pump attendant (who presumably doesn’t earn that much in the first place) settle the high cost.
Others brought up the concern that the car was found parked in Teck Whye that Saturday night — a S$10 petrol fill-up wouldn’t be enough to last a ride from the petrol kiosk in Tampines all the way to the other side of the island in the Jurong area.
Andrew Koh says
can you put yourself in people’s shoe…..graciously?if the cashier would to shout at u to cover his or her colleague mistake?how will u react man….
Andrew Koh says
horrible lah horrible……people pls think before u act…..the kelly wu who start this wooha….already hide her face in her face book…..people still poke fun of the poor driver
hublot88@gmail.com says
To the S$10 BMW driver, In “real facts”….If the pump attendant really made that foolish mistake by filling “almost full tank petrol into your “almost sold BMW”. What is the big deal for you to simply pay off the extra and leave the petrol station graciously? You could have been praised by many Singaporean, if you decide to choose the latter options, but instead, you chose to be shamed by millions! Honestly, Police might felt no wrong doing in what you have done, we do agreed with the police. Then, for heaven sake, where is your consciousness at that juncture? What are your real “INTENTION” you had in your mind during then? CHEAT? or trying to wag your way out hoping one of your new trick works in your life? We felt really sad for you. You can be the victim of this whole incident, but you chose to walk away to enjoy the “free Petrol” you have obtained, who knows during your drive to Teck Whye, you could’ve called few buddies of yours to share your trick of getting free petrol? Nobody knows what is in your mind during then. Frankly, the best you can do now is to go back to the said caltex petrol station, find that old pump attendant and tell him you are sorry for what had happened. and return him what he has paid for. Caltex might absorbed all the costs by now, but then again, for your family merits, just do it. be it whether it was already settled by Caltex or not.
Andrew Koh says
the one at teck whye may not be freddy himself….it could be dealer or the new owner