Asda in U-turn on plans to charge drivers £99 to use petrol pumps

Proposed scheme provoked furious responses from drivers

Caitlin Morrison
Thursday 10 May 2018 10:05 BST
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The supermarket had introduced the scheme at three of its filling stations
The supermarket had introduced the scheme at three of its filling stations

Asda has U-turned on plans to charge customers at its filling stations £99 to pay at the petrol pump.

The supermarket had planned to impose a temporary £99 fee in order to ensure customers had enough money to fill up, announcing the plans on Wednesday.

The “pre-authorisation charge”, which was introduced at three of the supermarket’s stores, deducts money from the driver’s bank balance or credit card.

Although the charge never leaves the customer’s account, it is held in limbo and only returned once the payment for the petrol has cleared.

Customers responded negatively to the proposals.

An Asda spokesperson said on Thursday: “We always want to do the right thing for our customers, which is why we have made the decision to suspend Visa and MasterCard’s pre-authorisation transaction trial. The intention of Visa and MasterCard in this trial was to ensure customers had sufficient funds in their account to pay for their fuel, and the £99 would be immediately released back to customers by their bank.

“Whilst we have received very few complaints about this process, until we can be given assurance that all banks are able to comply with the Visa and MasterCard rule change, we cannot continue to implement this change and risk harming our customers’ trust in us.”

Asda is in the process of being taken over by Sainsbury’s, if the UK’s competition authorities give the deal the green light.

When Sainsbury’s was asked whether it would also introduce the pre-authorisation charge, a spokesperson for the supermarket said: “We are aware Visa and Mastercard are rolling out an industry-wide update for pay at pump machines. We are currently reviewing the update before any introduction at our petrol filling stations.”

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