On 27 July 2020 my client Brett Chamberlain filled up his car with £60 worth of diesel at a Tesco Petrol Station in Exeter and offered payment by way of a £100 coin to the cashier.
A £100 coin is legal tender in accordance with the Coinage Act 1971.
The manager of the petrol station refused to accept payment in this form, despite the fact that there was no notice or advertisement on the fuel pumps warning potential customers that certain denominations of otherwise legal tender would not be accepted in payment of the goods being offered for sale i.e the petrol/ diesel fuel.
The manager of the petrol station called the Police and Sergeant Attwood of Devon and Cornwall Police attended at the scene.
Brett had not attempted to ‘make off’ in any way and waited patiently for the officer to arrive. He then politely explained the situation to Sergeant Attwood, including showing the officer the £100 coin, and explaining the relevant stipulations of the Coinage Act 1971.
Sergeant Attwood accepted that the £100 coin was perfectly legal tender, but nevertheless threatened Brett with arrest for “bilking”, on the alleged grounds that it was the preference of the Tesco manager that Brett not pay his debt with the £100 coin.
Brett correctly asserted that he was not acting dishonestly; he had not attempted to drive off; he had waited for the officer to attend and had then engaged in a lengthy and civil discussion with him as to the issue.
Brett further correctly asserted that the officer should not be threatening arrest simply because of the Tesco manager’s ‘preference’ as to what type of cash payment he was willing to accept after the event of the fuel being pumped. As with all self-service petrol stations, the pumps are made available for prospective customers such as Brett to ‘help themselves’ to vehicle fuel, and the station owner, in this case Tesco, would only have been able to refuse payment in a given denomination of otherwise legal tender cash/coinage had they clearly advised the fact with signage upon their pumps in advance. In the absence of any such signage, Tesco were obliged to accept any legal tender in Sterling which was offered to them and could not ‘pick and choose’ the method of such payment after the fuel had been pumped into the car, and the transaction was therefore irreversible.
Nevertheless, Sergeant Attwood then placed Brett under arrest on suspicion of “making off without payment”, and was then transported to Exeter Police Station.
Brett was processed and then interviewed before he was released “under investigation.”
Brett lodged a complaint and subsequently received a letter from Devon and Cornwall Police confirming that the alleged crime had now been filed as “undetected”, with an outcome of “not proceeded with”.
In effect, the Police letter was saying to Brett – ‘Thanks for your complaint – but in our view you’re a criminal, and we’re just disappointed we can’t prove it.’ This letter was accompanied by a telephone call from another officer who stressed the view that Brett was dishonest, and just lucky that Tesco were not ‘pressing charges’– a call which Brett quite rightly found to be oppressive and threatening. So much for a considerate or conciliatory response – though as long experience tells me, hardly surprising; this type of combativeness is ingrained in policing complaint culture.
Brett brought a claim against Devon & Cornwall Police for wrongful arrest. In response, Devon & Cornwall agreed to pay Brett £5,000 and his legal fees and to provide a ‘letter of apology’. That so-called apology was as mealy mouthed as the complaint response had been, demonstrating that even when they are clearly in the wrong, Police Forces will very rarely admit it – but justice can still be done.
Also read: Devon & Cornwall Police forced to pay the price for coin fiasco
