Hundreds of BP customers to have £2,000 prize 'win' honoured after competition gaffe – but you need to claim it

MoneySavingExpert.com has been contacted by four BP customers - and seen a dozen complaints on Twitter - over the past couple of weeks from people complaining they'd been denied prize wins after buying petrol or other items at a BP garage. All of the customers say they received a receipt (see the picture below) telling them they'd won 400,000 BP reward points - worth £2,000 - as part of the firm's 'Fuel Your Year' promotion. 

Those who managed to get in touch with BP were initially told this was a mistake and that they wouldn't receive the points - though some were offered 10,000 points worth £50 as a "goodwill gesture". But BP has now U-turned on this and says it will honour affected customers' prizes in full. It began notifying winners about this change in policy the same day MoneySavingExpert.com got in touch about the issue.

See our Cheap Petrol & Diesel guide for more on cutting your fuel costs. 

How does the competition work?

The BP Fuel Your Year promotion offers customers who swipe their BPMe rewards card or app while making a purchase in a BP store - which could be for fuel and for certain items sold in garages (lottery tickets and tobacco are excluded, for example) - the chance to win a daily prize draw worth 400,000 points.

The points are worth £2,000 and can be spent on fuel or other purchases at BP stations, as well as on purchases with BP's partner retailers, including Amazon and M&S, or donated to charity. 

The promotion started on 5 January 2021 and is set to run until 2 March 2021, with one winner each day - so there were supposed to be 57 winners in total. 

What went wrong?

BP says "for a short time" on the first morning of the promotion, some customers were given receipts showing they had automatically won the prize rather than simply being entered into the draw.

Around 400 people have so far contacted BP after wrongly being told they'd won - though the actual number could be much higher as BP only knows the details of those who have already got in touch. We've seen reports of the error at forecourts as far apart as Watford and Stirling.  

BP says the mistake was caused by a third party and that it was stopped as soon as it was detected. The promotion will still continue until March though, with one daily winner, despite its initial teething problems.

How to claim prizes if your receipt says you've won 

Here's what to do if you received a receipt on 5 January saying you'd won BP's £2,000 prize: 

• Already contacted BP? It will get in touch to honour the prize. If you've contacted BP about the prize win it says it will already have been back in touch to honour the prize in full. We have, however, heard from at least one customer who still hadn't been contacted at the time of writing, so it's worth getting back in touch if this applies to you and you haven't heard anything. You can contact BP using the email address below.

• Not contacted BP yet? Email it now. If you got a receipt saying you'd won the prize draw but haven't yet contacted BP, you can email the rewards team on bpmerewards@bp.com and your prize should be paid to you. You will need to show the receipt as proof. 

Points won will be credited to your BPme account. 

'Dig out old receipts from 5 January and get in touch with BP if you've won'

Helen Knapman, assistant news and investigations editor at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "Motorists and other customers were rightly deflated when BP initially refused to pay out prize wins, although it's good to see it's now U-turned on this position.

"Crucially, you won't get the cash automatically if you haven't already complained though. So dig out old receipts from 5 January and if you've got a winner, get in touch with BP now - £2,000 in reward points is not to be sniffed at especially when they can be exchanged to spend at retailers, including Amazon and M&S."   

What does BP say?

A BP spokesperson said: "Following an error in the setup of the BP Fuel Your Year promotion, a number of our BPme customers were wrongly informed that they had won the daily prize of 400,000 BPme loyalty points.

"Despite this being a mistake by a third-party supplier, BP will honour this prize for all the customers who have a receipt informing them that they were a winner."