Buying fuel at a filling station in Uganda: Blink and you’ll be fleeced

Steven Asiimwe, yes that one, who had sold me the car had advised that once the gauge read empty, I had 40km grace distance. Since I had reset to zero earlier and it was now reading 40km and the fuel was out, the only logical explanation was that no fuel had been put in. 

Mercifully there was a fuel station behind me, about a kilometre; all I had to do was gently roll the car in reverse. It effortlessly stopped at a fuel pump. Furious, I called Shell headquarters next day and the then public relations officer, Mr Fred Masadde, visited the outlet and called me. 

Since I had details of the exact time I’d been there and who’d served me – a lady, who readily conceded her dishonesty – I was given the fuel I’d paid for, plus a bonus.

But one young man taught me the ways of the city, in January 2013, at Hared Petrol Station in Bweyogerere. I was on my way to Mbale with a lawyer friend from California and we were engrossed in conversation.

When the pump attendant stopped the refuelling and told me power was off and he was going to switch on the generator, I didn’t pay attention. 

I’d paid him Shs100,000. When he came back, he told me he had so far put in fuel worth Shs30,000 – which I confirmed easily by looking at the pump – and that he was going to reset the pump to add the balance of Shs70,000. 

I didn’t bother checking. When he told me we were good to go, I checked the pump reading and it proclaimed Shs70,000. 

When I drove off, still busy in conversation, I noticed that the fuel gauge didn’t climb to the expected level, but I dismissed it easily, thinking it would pick up as we went along. 

It never did; and when we reached Busembatia, along the Iganga-Mbale highway, the Noah Field Tourer announced that it would play no further part in the journey. 

I realised I had been fooled very nicely. The pump attendant hadn’t reset the pump reading from Shs30,000 to zero; he had simply topped up with fuel worth Shs40,000, bringing the reading to Shs70,000. 

He had pocketed a neat Shs30,000, not bad money 10 years ago. From then on, I learnt to be extra careful – and that is how I caught two pump attendants at former Mogas in Kiwatule, red-handed. 

Their problem was, they over-acted, showing me too much love.  I became suspicious when they announced that my windscreen was dirty and needed cleaning, so they began to clean it, but also tried their best to draw my attention away from the pump. 

I’d paid Shs50,000. At Shs10,000, the pump attendant stopped, whereupon his supervisor loudly chided him: “the man wants fuel for Shs50,000, not Shs10,000!” 

“Ok, I will reset and add the worth of Shs40,000,” the attendant said. I quietly noted that he didn’t reset. He simply added the worth of 30,000 and stopped. 

I demanded my balance of Shs10,000, pointing out that I had watched the entire drama. Shamefaced, they returned my Shs10,000. 

Some other chaps tried the exact same tactic on me, in 2016, in Iganga Town. I forget the name of the station; it closed or shifted.

The place has recently been acquired by Total Energies, and is opposite the old and still operating Total. I paid them Shs40,000, instead of Shs50,000. 

When they asked for the balance, I simply laughed and told them I had been watching their every move. When refuelling in Uganda, blink and you’ll be fleeced. 

Mr Gawaya Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda,  [email protected]