A WOMAN was locked in a petrol station because she was unable to pay for her fuel — because of the RBS and Natwest system failure.

Laura Grogan, aged 29, and her partner Gordon Thomas, aged 28, were furious when at the Firwood Service Station in Crompton Way refused to let her leave.

Ms Grogan’s RBS debit card failed when she tried to pay for her fuel last Monday — and despite efforts to explain to staff, she was held against her will while the station waited for a device to empty the fuel out of her car.

Mr Thomas said staff used abusive language and made threats to his partner, which has left her badly shaken.

A passer-by called the police who attended and told garage staff they could not lock people in their property.

Mr Thomas returned to the garage later that night to pay for his partner’s petrol in cash.

He said: “It is disgraceful and totally unacceptable.

“My partner knew money was in the account and it could have been a problem with his machines for all he knew when he locked her in.Why you can’t leave your personal details, registration plate and then leave is beyond me.”

The incident happened at about 8.30pm on December 2.

Mr Thomas said staff even wanted Ms Grogan to leave her new iPhone 5 with them as a deposit for the £25 of fuel.

And he claims even when staff discovered the reason the card was not working they would not back down.

Mr Thomas said: “She came home in tears as she understandably felt intimidated at being locked in somewhere by a bunch of men.”

“At the end of the day, she was on her own and we have two kids, who could well have been in the car with her.”

Texaco supplies the fuel at the petrol station but the garage is independently owned.


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Mr Thomas said: “We tried to get Texaco involved but they said it’s not our business and we will urge the station to investigate the incident.”

Nobody from the garage could be reached for a comment.

The system failure came on the so-called Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days, and has been attributed to a lack of investment in IT by the boss of RBS, Ross McEwan.

Under the law, people can be detained if they are suspected of committing a theft and while the police are called.