Durban - A La Lucia doctor was recovering at home on Sunday after, he said, he was attacked by petrol attendants who thought he was trying to make off without paying for his fuel on Friday night.
The doctor, who asked not to be identified, sustained injuries to his face, including a nasal fracture, a deviated septum and a cut eye.
He spent the night in Umhlanga Hospital before discharging himself on Saturday.
The man said he had gone to the Engen garage in Armstrong Avenue in La Lucia after work to buy bread and fill his tank.
He said he had paid for his fuel and the bread inside the shop attached to the garage.
But as the man was driving away, the attendant started chasing after him and “banged and hit” his BMW Z4.
An argument ensued in which he was accused of not paying for the fuel and the man got out of his car.
“This guy grabbed me by the collar,” the man said.
“He tried to swing at me, but I ducked and he missed.”
The next thing he knew, a horde of petrol attendants was upon him, he said.
The man lost consciousness for a time and when he woke up, police and private security guards were at the scene.
Neil Bense, who runs the garage, was not there that evening and had still to talk to the petrol attendant involved, but on Sunday he had spoken to other staff members who witnessed the incident.
He conceded that there had been a brawl.
“But everyone says he threw the first punch,” Bense said of the doctor.
He said that the petrol attendant “didn’t do anything wrong”.
“I’m not saying he (the doctor) didn’t pay; he did. But it looked like he didn’t.”
And, he added, not paying for fuel was a big problem at the garage.
Bense said the brawl was the result of a “mob mentality” and that the group that joined was not made up of petrol attendants, but of people from the nearby taxi rank.
The doctor said the matter was reported to the police, although provincial spokesmen were unable to confirm it on Sunday.
The Mercury