Fight over who pays for the petrol forces service station to close

Police and an ambulance were called and Mr Singh closed the station for an hour and a half. Photo / Getty Images

An Auckland service station was forced to close when a driver was allegedly attacked by those he was transporting after an argument over who would pay for the petrol.

The incident came on the same weekend police across Auckland stopped thousands of motorists in a drink-driving blitz.

Harpreet Singh was working at Z Greenlane on Saturday night when a Mazda Demio hatchback pulled into the forecourt just after 7pm.

Mr Singh said a man in his 40s, who had been driving the car, walked into the service station and said he had been assaulted inside the hatchback. " ...He felt dizzy and just went unconscious." Police and an ambulance were called and Mr Singh closed the station for an hour and a half.

The other hatchback occupants drove off, Mr Singh said.

The man was understood to be in Auckland City Hospital yesterday.

Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers of Auckland Central said the matter was being dealt with as an assault.

In the drink-driving blitz, police from all three Auckland districts stopped 17,500 drivers for breath tests over a 31-hour period which started on Friday night and ended at 6am yesterday.

Operation Continuum caught 100 driving with excess breath alcohol.

One was a young mother in her 20s who was driving with an unrestrained 3-year-old in the front seat of her car.

The woman gave a reading of 628 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.