MOTORISTS WARNED OVER NEW £100 'RINGFENCE' ON PAY-AT-PUMP TRANSACTIONS AT MORRISONS STORES

Motorists looking to fill up at Morrisons petrol pumps may be in for a bit of a shock as they face a new £100 pending charge on their bank accounts.

The supermarket has made changes to its pre-authorisation charges at its pay-at-pump service from £1 to £100 which means that unless you have the money in your account to cover it, your transaction will be declined.

Although the money never actually leaves your account, the retailer requests a ringfence be put around it until the transaction is completed. It will appear as a pending charge on statements and will mean that the money will not be allowed to be spent until its pending status is ended, this can be as short as an hour or as long as 48 hours depending on your bank.

This means that you may not have enough in your account to cover the costs of other things like shopping as customers wait for the pending period to clear.

The change has been forced by credit card companies Visa and Mastercard and comes despite a huge backlash when Asda trialled the charge at its pay-at-pump sites in 2018.

Tesco and Sainsburys have already introduced a higher charge last year.

Drivers are being advised that they can avoid the ringfence by paying at the counter inside the station for petrol rather than at the pump.

Alex Neill, who is CEO of complaints and claims specialists Resolver, urged customers to flag the issue as soon as possible.

He said:

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"If you find that the charge has not been released or refunded after a day or two contact your bank or credit card provider immediately, explaining what has happened.

"You should get an immediate reversal of the funds."