AN ELDERLY man that has to endure kidney dialysis was forced to walk home in the rain after forgetting his wallet at a Johnstone petrol station.

Staff at the Beith Road Benston Service Station garage refused to let Robert Alexander leave in his car after he forgot his wallet.

Two days later Robert was admitted to Inverclyde Hospital suffering from pneumonia.

His wife Margaret, who lives in Wren Place with her husband, is furious and wants to warn Gazette readers about the garage.

She said: "I just hope it doesn't happen to somebody else." Robert, who is on night shift for dialysis, had gone down to fill up his car on the morning of Friday, October 2 and when he went into pay he had realised he had forgotten his wallet.

Margaret said: "He said to the staff he would give them his name and address but they said no.

"He walked up the road, in the rain, and come the Sunday he was landed in hospital with pneumonia.

"I am not saying that it was this that caused him to be in hospital but it wouldn't have helped.

"It's a long road especially if you are not 100 per cent fit." Robert came home last Wednesday and is slowly recovering.

She added: "He is a very placid man and doesn't complain about anything." Maragret phoned the garage to complain but the manager has yet to phone her back.

Neighbours and friends of the couple have been so shocked by the story that they are boycotting the garage.

A spokesperson for Benston Service Station explained that if a customer forgets their wallet staff offer to phone a taxi to take them home to pick up the money or the customer can phone somebody to bring it down for them.

The spokesperson continued: "Usually what happens when people forget is that they say they will come back but they never turn up.

"We have two or three people every single day who leave without paying.

"We don't make the policy, we have to follow the normal procedure.

"I have seen the CCTV footage of that day and he didn't tell the staff that he wasn't fit. If he had then they should have let him go."