"Forgetting to pay"/stealing gas

[btimbit]

Hey guys. So last night on my way home from work I stopped at a Petro-Canada and fueled up. After pumping, I hop back in my truck and continue on my way home.

About ten minutes later I realized I forgot to pay. I usually do pay at the pump, yet this time I was planning on going into the store to grab a pack of gum so figured I'd pay for gas afterwards as well. I guess my mind drifted off as I was pumping (Which tends to happen since filling an F-150 from empty takes quite a while!)

Of course I turned right around and went back to the station, walked in extremely embarrassed, and explained it to the cashier. We laughed about it, got it taken care of, and I bought him an O' Henry for his trouble.

It did make me curious though, what would have happened if I never realized it and went back to pay? I'm curious what the penalties are in this situation. The attendant said that people 'gas and go' a few times a week that he see alone.

Assuming a security camera gets the offenders license plate #, to what extent do the police get involved? Do they get your address of the registration and show up at the listed address?

[icky2unk]

At Coop they send the info over to police, police find you tell you to go pay gas and that's about it.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by icky2unk
At Coop they send the info over to police, police find you tell you to go pay gas and that's about it.

Exactly what happened to my dad (He thought my mom was paying inside, but she was just buying a lottery ticket, lol).

[Kloubek]

So, you can drive away from a station without paying for $100 of gas and not get charged, but if you walk out of a store with a 59 cent pack of gum without paying you can get arrested?

Seems a little odd...

[btimbit]

Originally posted by Kloubek
So, you can drive away from a station without paying for $100 of gas and not get charged, but if you walk out of a store with a 59 cent pack of gum without paying you can get arrested?

Seems a little odd...

My thoughts exactly, that seems weird to me. In high school I knew a guy that got weeks of community service and a criminal record for not paying for a car air freshener from wal-mart. $3.99. Like driving away with gas, they didn't catch him when he took it, they caught him the next time he went to the store. Yes, he's an idiot, that's not my point. Surely there's a more severe punishment for stealing gas.

[spikerS]

back in the day, i worked the graveyard shift at Petro-Can on center and McKnight Blvd. Used to have quite a few Gas'n'Gos happen. We had cameras, and as soon as one happened, we called the cops.

Sometimes it was a simple "oops" like btimbit said, other times they knew exactly what they were doing, usually because they didn't have any money. Cops would leave it up to me or the boss if we wanted to press charges. If they could pay for the gas, right now, without having to call anyone, we would let it slide, if they couldn't, we pressed charges. Other times, the cops never gave us the option, as it was just another charge in the litany of other offences found.

[schocker]

When I was at coop I was a supervisor so I would get the emails about the gasngos with the pictures and most of them were people backing in and they had already taken the plate off, pretty brazen for the most part, so I can see them being more lenient for mistakes like that.

[mr2mike]

Or how about forgetting your wallet all together?!

Did that once, had to leave my watch to prove I'd come back as I had no ID or anything. In hindsight, I think it'd be better I just drove off and came back to pay with my wallet considering they did have my license plate #.

[dubhead]

Nice I'm not the only one who's done this

[osspasha]

My cousin owns two esso gas stations in ottawa, i managed one of them during my university days. as some said here, cops get the plate number, they call the person, person comes and pay with ton of apologizing and thats about it, but we can chose to press charges (which is pointless cuz we just need our gas money).

i have seen drive offs with stolen plates, fake plates, no plates etc...

recently ottawa police changed how we file for a drive off, now they require u to give a written statement about what happened, a copy of the footage and then drop them off in person to the nearest police station, and u will hear back from them in a month or so. this process made $10 drive offs pointless to file.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by osspasha
recently ottawa police changed how we file for a drive off, now they require u to give a written statement about what happened, a copy of the footage and then drop them off in person to the nearest police station, and u will hear back from them in a month or so. this process made $10 drive offs pointless to file.

That is ridiculous. So everyone who knows this, will gas'n'go for $10, and do it to several stations.

I mean, I understand they probably get swamped with those, but for gods sake, their call centers employee hundreds of non-officers who can make the phone calls.

[RNB11]

I used to work at a Coop station before, Cops will charge you if you do not pay within a specific time-frame.

[osspasha]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


That is ridiculous. So everyone who knows this, will gas'n'go for $10, and do it to several stations.

I mean, I understand they probably get swamped with those, but for gods sake, their call centers employee hundreds of non-officers who can make the phone calls.

the annoying part is u need to do a separate CD for every case, u cant just burn all of the 'small dollar drive offs' on one CD, making it time consuming. every cd has 3 minute clip

i think the reason they did that, is the high gas prices and low income, caused a lot of drive offs, (we noticed a sharp increase in drive offs, sometimes 4 times a day). so it doesnt make sense to send a cop every time a drive off happens, so they changed the reporting process to the "tax payer favor".

[4DoorGTZ]

Returning from a road trip with a friend we were coming through Great Falls. Stopped for gas at the first station on the east side of town. Friend went inside, I fueled up... He was in so long (filled and washed windows) I assumed he paid (guess he had an upset stomache.)
Motorcycle cop pulled us over before we made the turn north at the west end of town, we basically had no idea, did we speed? Miss a light? When he asked if we paid for our gas we both looked at each other to imply "didn't you get it?" he escorted us back through town (lights off) and watched one of us go into the station before he left.

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Or how about forgetting your wallet all together?!

Did that once, had to leave my watch to prove I'd come back as I had no ID or anything. In hindsight, I think it'd be better I just drove off and came back to pay with my wallet considering they did have my license plate #.

We used to make the person who forgot their wallet stay there, call someone with money/credit card and come pay it. Sometimes we'd take something for collateral, but really it depends on whether the perp is a prick or not. We did it to some bitch once, but it was more of she didn't pay her credit card bills, got gas. Came in to pay and of course the cards were all declined. She then wanted to leave something useless behind as collateral. As soon as I asked for something with more value, she freaked out and started a scene. So I made her stay and call someone and bring cash haha. Bit extreme, but whatever.

Some station owners make you pay for the gas 'n' go's. Propane shack (was on 4000 edm trail, now it's a different name. Dunno if same owner though) was notorious for making you pay for shortages and gas 'n' go's. Sucked nuts, but there was always incentive to make sure the till balanced.

[clem24]

I guess this is why in BC and in WA state, they make you prepay for gas. I think it would solve a lot of problems.

[Blue]

lol i kind of did that once, forgot my wallet kind of thing on beddington centex. but he recognizes me and told me to pay for it later

[btimbit]

Originally posted by clem24
I guess this is why in BC and in WA state, they make you prepay for gas. I think it would solve a lot of problems.

Like that in most US States now. In New Jersey you can't even pump it yourself anymore.

[AudiPWR]

Were you high?

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by clem24
I guess this is why in BC and in WA state, they make you prepay for gas. I think it would solve a lot of problems.