Petrol station “etiquette”

GemiJen, I hope you didn't buy those flowers at a petrol station.

One of our local garages has a good sized parking area for those who only need the shop. I rarely shop in petrol stations anyway but will often pick up a bottle of wine bottle of milk or something urgent while I'm paying and I do try to be as quick as possible because I hate holding people up.

I am also one of those who sits in the queue fuming and tutting when the person in front seems to be taking ages muttering things like, 'Must you keep fiddling with your seat belt?' and 'Don't tell me you're going to sit there and EAT that b***dy sandwich!'

Human nature innit?

Well, this went well

If all you people have to worry and moan about is waiting
in a petrol station then count your blessings.

Give what?
An ironic general observation and suddenly it’s all my fault because I chose to but petrol on a Saturday morning?
Remind me to fill up the next time the tank has dropped one notch with only 450miles left, oh and if possible at 3 in the morning.
Does anybody get vertigo on their high horse I wonder?

If you give it you've got to take it.

Just saying....

MawBroon

Can’t move forward without blocking exit. Can’t use pump till previous payment has been made but I do get irritated when people go in, wander up and down to buy stuff and have a chat. On the other hand, there is nowhere to move your car to while you shop and I have on occasions bought a sandwich or crisps or a drink, so I can’t really complain.

Maw, try planning your fuel-up times better and choose a less busy time. And try being as patient as you'd like others to be with you
Well well MillyG that was a bit harsh!

Unsurprisingly I called in at 11 yesterday morning because I was LOW on petrol, not general a busy time.
The petrol station was busy because several pumps were “down”
And yes, the driver did take a very long time before returning to the car which was why I guessed perhaps they had been to the loo as well!
Anyway what the heck do you know about
a) busy times or not where I live -and the layout of petrol stations where there is room to pull forward
b) whether or not I was entitled to be impatient because I risked being late to pick up my friend to take her for her biopsy
c) can’t you even recognise “tongue in cheek” when you read it?
d) when you recommend being as patient “as others are with me”, I take it you include yourself in that group?

I have seriously had it with some of the self righteous po-faced reactions I read on GN these days.
justsaying

I worked in a Sainsbury's petrol station many moons ago and there is a machine that sounds an alarm in the shop when you lift the hose from the cradle. They will only OK its use if the fuel already used by the previous customer has been paid for .

So , pulling forward ( even supposing there's somewhere to pull too ) wont get your fuel any quicker I'm afraid.

A similar situation is at the supermarket if you only have one or two items andare behind somebody
with a trolley full. If we have a lot in our trolley mand there is somebody behind with just a few items we always let the person move in front of us. However if the situation is reversed it seldom happens to us. Just last week I just wanted some bread and went in to Iceland in our town centre to get it to save me doing an additional journey to a supermarket. Both tills had long queues and an elderly couple in front of me had a huge pile in their trolley but didn’t think to let me in front of them to pay for my one item. It isn’t that they didn’t notice because they passed the time of day with me saying how busy it was. When they had packed and paid for their shopping the cashier pointedly apologised for my wait.

MillyG ditto to your post too

NotSpaghetti Ditto to your post

I was told at a garage not to do this because the next person can fill up and you could end up paying for it. Not sure how it works.

I drive around and then back up.

...carefully of course.

15 mins seems a very lo g time to pay for fuel.

Moving forward at my local petrol stations would block the exit for all, plus the next user wouldn't be able to fill up anyway until the fuel was paid for and the pump released.

Maw, try planning your fuel-up times better and choose a less busy time. And try being as patient as you'd like others to be with you.

Or maybe he/she wants to use two different cards.

In our Tesco the pumps have an option to either pay at the pump or pay in the kiosk so it makes no difference which option they choose if they are going to go into the shop. They'll just be using their card twice instead of once.

We don't have 'ordinary' pumps.

And then there's the person in front of you at Tesco's pay at the pump who puts his petrol in, pays for it, and then walks off to the kiosk to queue up and buy fags! Why couldn't he just fill up at one of their ordinary pumps?

What if you're the only person in the car, Pamela?

The only reason I asked about being allowed to move your car is that a few years ago when Mum was dying I was driving to her nursing home, 40 mins away and had just had an emergency tooth extraction. I stopped to fill up with petrol and because my still anaesthetised mind was all over the place I drove off for a few yards before realising I hadn't paid.

Fortunately there was a safe place to pull into but by the time I got out and locked the car a man had run out of the shop. He didn't look to happy!!

They were very understanding but I'm not sure they would have been pleased if I'd said I was just moving before paying. How are they going to know who is driving off and who isn't if they are busy serving?

I think you can move your car but I don’t think the pump can be used again until the fuel has been paid for.
When we stop for petrol together one of us fills whilst the other pays. Why can’t everyone do that?
I do understand that some passengers can’t- may be old, infirm or perhaps are just being given a lift but we appear to be the only ones that do it.

Ah yes Tippy , those are the ones that infuriate me too. If you know that you're going to do your weekly shop after putting fuel in your car, why not draw up at the side, or in front of the shop, instead of leaving your car parked at a pump for 30 minutes? Or the ones that fill up, wander round to the car wash to reserve a slot, go back to their car to get their purse and then go into pay.

Thinking about it though. Are you allowed to move your car before paying?

And the people that fill up with petrol and then seem to do their weekly shop before paying.