(Help) Filling Station Filled Car With Diesel Instead Of Petrol

Marshall117

My son who has a petrol engine car pulled into a garage to fill up.
Due to Covid the garage were not allowing you to fill the car yourself, they were filling it for you whist you stayed in the car.
When asked what fuel he wanted my son accidently pointed towards the diesel pump, and the garage employee proceeded to fill his car with diesel.
Obviously my son did not get far from the filling station before his car packed up completely.
This resulted in him having to be recovered to get home and paying out to have the car drained and put right.
As he payed cash he did not have an electronic record of having filled at the garage, but he has requested video surveillance from the garage to confirm he filled up there. 
I am wondering though if the garage is responsible and liable for what happened.
He has owned the car for 2 years and has always put petrol in, so if he had filled the car himself as normal, that is what he would have done.
Also the facts of the sticker on the fuel cap stating petrol, and the diesel spout not fitting into his fuel pipe would have been a bit of a dead give away.
Surely this should have been noticed by the garage employee.
The guys who fixed his car said that the employee would not have been able to get the diesel spout in so they must have just held it against the pipe. 
By not allowing him to fill the car himself would the garage have taken over responsibility for the above happening?
If anyone can help or advise I would be very grateful.

couriervanman

Something not quite right with the OPs story 

Grumpy_chap

Oh, I remember the days of attended service...
They were not last week, or even last year.

GrumpyDil

GC. There is one garage near me which is 100% attended service although the prices do reflect that! 

Supersonos

Marshall117 said:

 my son accidently pointed towards the diesel pump

Then it was your son's mistake.  The garage is not liable.  You son should've ensure the correct pump was used.

AdrianC

Marshall117 said:

When asked what fuel he wanted my son accidently pointed towards the diesel pump
...
I am wondering though if the garage is responsible and liable for what happened.

Does your son have a disability which renders him non-vocal?
When he saw them picking the wrong nozzle up, did he try to attract their attention?

The_Fat_Controller

Did the attendant not question the "pointing to the diesel pump" after he/she found it impossible to put the nozzle into the car ?
If they are filling cars all day they should know what they are doing.
Sounds like a great comedy act between the two of them.

Car_54

I've filled up several times during Covid, and it's always been self-service as normal. Much safer for the staff than the alternative, I'd have thought.

Also, I can't remember the last time I saw a "diesel pump" - it's now normally just different nozzles on the same pump. The nozzles are only about 6" apart, so pointing from inside a car wouldn't be very helpful.

[Deleted User]

How did they get the bigger diesel head into the narrow unleaded fuel tank opening?

lemondrops69

The_Fat_Controller said:

Sounds like a great comedy act between the two of them.

To me, to you.................

Nearlyold

Deleted_User said:

How did they get the bigger diesel head into the narrow unleaded fuel tank opening?

Attendant went and fetched a funnel as he/she was not going to be beaten by a pesky too small opening for the nozzle!