A man who was arrested after attempting to pay for fuel at a BP forecourt in Stockton with a £20 coin has won a pay out of £4,000 from police.
The Northern Echo confirmed the payout for the incident, which happened in November 2022.
The man, who goes by the name Eye Spy Audit on YouTube, said he was arrested by Cleveland Police for “making off without payment” at the BP site after trying to pay with a specialist £20 Royal Mint coin. He shared the incident on YouTube, and the video has so far been viewed 140,000 times.
The man filled up his vehicle then entered the shop to pay using the £20 coin. There was confusion at the till point with staff not recognising the coin. The customer was also wearing a mask which staff asked him to remove, but he would not. Police were called and asked for his details, but he would not comply. Although the customer was still in the store, he was arrested for ‘making off without payment’. He says he was held for just over two hours.
Cleveland Police has confirmed the payout – but has insisted that the man wasn’t detained for “longer than necessary”.
They added that if the man had given the police his details, they could have resolved the problem, however, he refused, explaining “because it’s a civil issue and it’s nothing for the police to get involved in”.
Iain Gould, the man’s solicitor, told the Northern Echo: “A £20 coin is a legal tender of the realm, but here the Police Officers involved seem to forget their oath to uphold the laws of the land and instead acted as if they were bouncers for BP Fuel Stations. Hopefully my client’s action will remind the Police where their true duty lies.”
