‘Red flag’: Man’s ‘creepy’ servo act sparks outrage

A woman has taken to social media with an urgent plea after witnessing something truly disturbing at a rural petrol station.

At around 2:45pm on Saturday, Aussie woman Claire Champion popped into a service station in the small town of Tahmoor, on the southwest fringe of Sydney.

What she witnessed inside left her deeply unsettled.

According to Ms Champion, she watched as an older man, white-haired and wearing a cap, approached the Metro Petroleum counter and began questioning a staff member about a young female worker named Ally.

To her disbelief, Ally’s male colleague reportedly revealed not only her name, but her entire weekly work schedule, including the exact days and times she was there.

The man, who drove a white ute, was apparently “asking a lot of questions” about Ally, which raised alarm bells for Ms Champion.

Having 130,000 followers on TikTok, she returned to her car and instinctively pulled out her phone and made a video about what she had witnessed, hoping it would reach Ally.

It received a huge reaction, and also prompted the service station to respond to the situation.

Woman’s urgent plea

“I know this is a long shot in reaching you, but I know for a fact that if that was me, I would not want someone who didn’t know me well enough, to ask me my work schedule and didn’t know my name,” she said in the clip.

“I wouldn’t want them knowing that information about me, so I hope this reaches you,” she added, closing out the video with: “Stay safe out there, Queens”.

Then TikTok did what it does best, and the video instantly blew up, amassing nearly half a million views.

Most commenters were equally as shocked and appalled at the staff member for giving out his colleague’s personal information.

“Genuinely baffled why her colleague did this?” said one user, while another wrote, “Ally, your co-worker needs a talking to”.

Some called the situation “outrageous,” with one commenter even suggesting, “He should be fired”.

A woman has taken to social media with an urgent plea after witnessing something disturbing at a rural petrol station. Picture: TikTok/@clairechampion_

Comments were divided

As the outpouring of support for Ally came in the hundreds, so did the praise for Ms Champion for raising the alarm.

“Girls protecting girls in Australia – this is amazing!” wrote one woman, as someone else called her decision “top-notch”.

“You did the right thing,” supported another.

However, not everyone agreed with her approach.

Some questioned why she hadn’t stepped in at the time or called the police, while others speculated there might be a reasonable explanation for the man’s questions, suggesting he could have been a relative or a debt collector.

The incident happened at a Metro Petroleum service station (not the one pictured). Picture: Annabel Bowles

‘Didn’t want an altercation’

In response, Ms Champion replied to comments, justifying her decision.

She said she was alone in the service station with two men and didn’t feel it was safe to directly intervene.

She also pointed out that her main priority was ensuring Ally was aware of what had happened as quickly as possible, so she could be informed before she next turned up to work.

“My job was to make sure she was aware that a potential stranger knew her weekly schedule and was asking multiple questions about her,” she explained.

She took to TikTok to raise awareness about women’s safety. Picture: TikTok/@clairechampion_

Petrol station responds

As it turns out, Ms Champion’s video did exactly what she hoped.

Within hours, she learned that Ally, her family, and the service station’s manager had all been made aware of the incident thanks to her TikTok.

Micha Hayek, whose family runs Metro Petroleum Tahmoor, told news.com.au that after reviewing CCTV, they found the worker who was on shift at that time and also the man who asked the questions.

“Our team member did get reprimanded and the entire team got an updated briefing on the safety of privacy and protecting each other at work and how to act in these situations,” Ms Hayek said.

“Because our station is in a small town, we have many return customers so after we showed Ally the footage to see what our next steps should be, it turns out he has been her regular customer for a while and she knows him, and he was just asking because she is not working her usual hours.”

In a follow-up video, Ms Champion gave her followers the update.

“This video made it to Ally and her family, as well as the service station manager. My approach worked, why criticise me for trying to do the right thing?” she said.

She also pushed back against those who accused her of overreacting, saying it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to matters of personal safety.

Originally published as ‘Red flag’: Man’s ‘creepy’ servo act sparks outrage