The elderly Caltex pump attendant has spoken up on behalf of the BMW driver at the centre of the 10-dollar-petrol saga.

The attendant told a Chinese newspaper the incident was a misunderstanding and urged Singaporeans to stop harassing the BMW driver.

Did not say what exactly happened

However, speaking to Shin Min Daily News on April 17, the attendant did not disclose what actually occurred on April 14, at about 2pm at the Tampines petrol station.

The attendant declined to comment on how the driver had asked him to fill up his tank, adding that he felt that it was not right for him to do so, since the matter is now handled by his company.

On what happened that day, the attendant only said that the situation was quite chaotic.

When the Chinese daily asked about the driver’s allegations about his attitude -- where the attendant was said to have raised his voice -- the elderly man simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

To his co-workers, the attendant is known as “Cowboy”, a term of endearment.

Did not know matter blew up

The attendant revealed that he does not read the news or surf the internet too often and that he only realised how viral the issue became on Monday, April 16.

The attendant has decided to speak up on the driver’s behalf as he is disturbed by the harassment that the driver is being subjected to.

Calling on online users to be rational and to let the matter pass, he said: “The entire incident was a misunderstanding, and the company is now handling it. As for netizens harassing the driver, I feel that there is really no need for this, and they should stop immediately. Don’t disturb the BMW driver.”

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Garage also harassed

The garage that is performing repairs on the BMW involved in the incident has also been facing harassment.

Throughout the saga, the driver has maintained that he had been planning to trade his car in at a dealership in Jurong.

This was why he wanted to top up only S$10 worth of petrol to cover his trip from Tampines to Jurong. The police confirmed that this was the statement given.

But online sleuths managed to track the BMW on sgCarMart.com where it was up for sale for S$28,500.

Caltex BMW on sale pic.twitter.com/vpmQMLHIEt

— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) April 17, 2018

The BMW was sent over to a garage as per company protocol.

Maintenance works were being carried out on the car at Platinum Werkz garage.

A shareholder at the garage said more than 10 people arrived at the garage on Monday to take photos. That was when he realised it was the same BMW.

He added: “After that, we received various harassing calls. We can only try our best to explain the whole incident all over.”