There are some lovely, honest people in Benoni

Just before the petrol price went up I went to the Sasol garage, Rynfield (diagonally opposite the Spar), to fill up my car.

I put in R330,35 worth of petrol, using my garage card.

I checked the amount registered on the petrol pump with my slip and drove off.

On the way home, I noticed that my gauge had not registered any increase and, on returning home, I mentioned to my husband that the gauge must be faulty.

On January 13, while driving, I noticed that the gauge was reflecting the red light, and I realised that it was working!

I pulled into the nearest garage and filled up.

It cost R650 and the gauge went up to full.

This caused me to think that something fishy had taken place.

I seldom use my car and there is no way I had used that much petrol in so short a time.

I decided to go back to the garage in Rynfield.

I no longer had the slip, could not remember on what date I had filled up, but my bank statement was debited on January 4.

I realised that I could not claim anything, but decided to go back regardless, so that I could advise them to look into the matter for their own sake.

I took along my bank statement and the January 13 petrol slip and told the manager the story.

His name is Andries.

He said that he remembered something, but could not find any record of the sale to me on January 4.

He said he would look into it and that was that (so I thought).

About three hours later, I had a visit from Andries.

He had found the slip, but it was dated December 31, although the bank debited me on January 4.

He then realised the two dates were connected and that, at the time of the sale, there had been something wrong and the petrol attendant had mentioned it.

Because of the different dates at the time of my visit, he did not correlate the two.

He had a job to find out where I lived.

He had gone to the bank, but they would not divulge my address, so then he went to the police station with my registration number, and that is how he found me.

He said he would refund the money, or I could call and get the same amount of petrol later.

This has restored my faith in humanity.