Angry drivers have attacked Tesco for blocking £120 on their debit or credit cards when they use them to pay at the fuel pump - even if they spend much less on fuel.
In the past month, the amount customers can pay in one fill-up has risen from £99 to £120 at Tesco and Esso Alliance forecourts across the UK due to the rising cost of fuel, but this means the pre-authorisation amount - the amount that's temporarily put on hold on your card - has also risen to £120.
The measure is intended to stop people driving off without paying for fuel, or filling their car with more than they can afford and being unable to pay for it. Before that, it reserved just £1, but last year, Tesco, along with several other supermarkets, changed the way it sold fuel at a small number of forecourts, which involved “reserving” £99 in customers' accounts when they paid at the pump.
