The Aporia · ‘I forgot to pay’: Victoria’s premier Ben Carroll drives off without paying for petrol, sparking police inquiries

‘I forgot to pay’: Victoria’s premier Ben Carroll drives off without paying for petrol, sparking police inquiries

Read the original at The Guardian ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

correspondent, B. K. V. s. (2026, October 20). ‘I forgot to pay’: Victoria’s premier Ben Carroll drives off without paying for petrol, sparking police inquiries. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/21/i-forgot-to-pay-victorian-premier-ben-carroll-drove-off-with-paying-for-petrol-sparking-police-inquiries-ntwnfb

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll admitted to driving off without paying for petrol at a service station near his home on Monday night. He rectified the situation by returning to pay the bill after being contacted by police through the Department of Parliamentary Services on Tuesday. The incident sparked discussions about whether such incidents should be treated as criminal offenses, with Victoria’s police commissioner Mike Bush suggesting they are typically civil matters unless proven otherwise intentionally.

Written by AI on 2026-10-21, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 20, 2026, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll admitted to driving away from a service station without paying for fuel on Monday night in Airport West, near his home in Niddrie. He discovered the oversight the next day and immediately paid the bill. The police contacted the Department of Parliamentary Services about the incident, leading to Carroll being notified. Police were investigating the matter after he filled up his car while running errands late Monday evening following a busy day addressing an attack on federal MP Helen Haines in regional Victoria. Carroll expressed gratitude for the service station staff's understanding and stated that politicians can make mistakes like anyone else.

Written for “Premier's Petrol Station Mishap” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 7 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

66/100

The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-21 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2758 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent

7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 No further action is expected to be taken.

2026-10-20 · assertive framing · ‘I forgot to pay’: Victoria’s premier Ben Carroll drives off without paying for petrol, sparking police inquiries

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Also by Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent

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2026-10-16 · The Guardian

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2026-09-23 · The Guardian

Datacentres in Victoria to be banned in residential areas

2026-09-21 · The Guardian

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 7 articles by Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent →

Topics

Australian Niddrie Victoria Victorian the Department of Parliamentary Services

Subjects

Carroll PERSON · 5× Victoria GPE · 2× Anthony Albanese PERSON · 1× Australian NORP · 1× Ben Carroll PERSON · 1× Helen Haines PERSON · 1× Krissy Barrett PERSON · 1× Mike Bush PERSON · 1× Niddrie GPE · 1× Victorian NORP · 1×

Narrative

It’s understood Carroll had filled up his car near his home in his electorate of Niddrie on Monday night, after spending the evening responding to the alleged attack on the federal MP Helen Haines in regional Victoria earlier that day.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-21

🔮 No further action is expected to be taken.

2026-10-21 · The Guardian

‘I forgot to pay’: Victoria’s premier Ben Carroll drives off without paying for petrol, sparking police inquiries · assertive framing

Claims (24 extracted, 0 hedged)

On Tuesday night, Ben Carroll received a phone call: police were looking for him. asserted

police → receive → him

The Victorian premier had met with the state’s police commissioner earlier that morning – so he wasn’t exactly hard to find. asserted

he → meet → commissioner

But the officers weren’t looking to speak to him about their resources, powers or investigations. asserted

officers → look → resources

They wanted to know if he had driven off from a service station without paying for his petrol on Monday night. asserted

he → want → night

“Late Monday night, I was running some errands and filled up the car with petrol,” Carroll said in a statement early on Wednesday morning. “ asserted

Carroll → run → morning

] found out yesterday I forgot to pay. asserted

I → find → ?

I fixed the bill straight away.” asserted

I → fix → bill

He added that he was “grateful for the team at the servo for their understanding”. asserted

he → add → understanding

Carroll → understand → Victoria

Unbeknown to him – as he met with Victoria police commissioner, Mike Bush, the head of the Australian federal police, Krissy Barrett, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese – officers had begun searching for him. asserted

officers → meet → him

It’s understood they contacted him through the Department of Parliamentary Services on Tuesday night. asserted

they → understand → night

A bashful Carroll then headed back to the service station to pay up. asserted

Carroll → head → station

No further action is expected to be taken. asserted

action → expect → ?

Speaking at an event on Wednesday, Carroll said the former deputy premier John Thwaites had contacted him to say: “Don’t worry, Ben. asserted

premier → speak → him

I didn’t pay for the petrol, and I also drove off with the nozzle in the car.” asserted

I → pay → car

“That made me feel a lot better,” Carrol told the Age forum. asserted

Carrol → make → forum

“It shows that politicians are human beings, and even premiers make mistakes.” asserted

premiers → show → mistakes

Asked about the matter on Wednesday, Bush said the view of police was that a petrol drive-off was a “civil matter unless it’s proven otherwise”. asserted

it → ask → police

“If someone does something accidentally, non-deliberately, it becomes a very civil matter,” the commissioner said. asserted

commissioner → do → something

“That civil redress is available, and I do understand that civil redress was made. asserted

redress → understand → ?

“It does occur and that’s why we’re very careful not to criminalise every petrol driver. asserted

we → occur → driver

We do understand, and I’m very empathic and sympathetic to petrol station owners who do suffer, but it’s not always criminal [behaviour].” asserted

it → understand → owners

It came months after Carroll’s predecessor, Jacinta Allan, told parliament that police were grappling with a rise in illegal drive-offs from petrol stations. asserted

police → come → stations

“We are seeing a rise in incidents of drive-offs at service stations, and it is an illegal practice,” she said in March. asserted

she → see → March