Petrol Pumps

[DerbyBorn]

Why do other countries have petrol pumps that can be set to deliver a certain amount - Litres or Euros? Even the attended pumps.

[Andy Burns]

Why not? Some in the UK can too.

[Graham.]

I have seen it in this country, years ago. You could preset how much you want to spend and the pump would stop automatically.

[Graham.]

I'm not sure why you ask in that way, and not "Why don't we have it here". I suppose the answer might be once the fuel company has you on their forecourt, it is in their interest to sell you as much as possible and not encourage you to ration yourself.

[Adrian]

Because they're primarily cash societies, whereas we're primarily plastic? Because they allow the pump to be locked on, whereas we don't? Or just because...?

[The Other John]

Our local Tesco pumps can be preset, can't remember off hand whether it's money or litres.

[dennis]

Used one in Tesco on Thursday.

[Jethro_uk]

IIRC it's either ...

[DerbyBorn]

"Dennis@home" wrote in news:543ae96b$0$44957 $b1db1813$ [e-mail]:

Not seen one in the UK since the 1970's where this was possible. Is it perhaps making a comeback?

[John Rumm]

I seem to recall also reading that its standard practice in some countries to pay before you fill rather than after?

[fred]

Like Sheffield :-)

Passing through many years ago, at the peak of the drive off boom, they wanted the money up front from me. I moved on and filled up elsewhere.

[Andy Burns]

Some areas of Nottingham too (after dark, at least) I was on fumes, but still drove away from two garages before finding one that was fill-then-pay.

[Nightjar]

Which is, effectively, what I do when I use pay at the pump.

[Brian Gaff]

I'd have thought that by now all the pumps could do such a thing, its probably dependent on the choices made by those using them. As long as there is a way to stop over filling and the resultant hazards.... Brian

[DerbyBorn]

fred wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@y.z:

Why did it offend you?

[Tim Watts]

Certainly saw that in Latvia - you have to (in 1997 anyway) go to the shop, tell him your pump number and pay up front.

In Albania around 1995, the petrol pump was sometimes contained in a brick building and the nozzle passed out according to friends who visited Tirana.

[Martin Brown]

ISTR You on some can set fixed amount if you want to. I always brim it to a round number of litres every time to exploit Np/L off to the max.

10p and 6p deals are well worth following around.

A more pertinent question is why now that many pumps have two options for pay at kiosk or at pump that their user interface is so hostile. About half the would be Pay-at-Pump users at the Tescos I visit most frequently try to proffer their bank/credit card before pressing the Pay-at-Pump button. This results in a deadlock and no fuel dispensed.

The harassed staff in the rabbit hutch spend an inordinate amount of time telling customers to put the pump back on hook and press the right button! It seems to be getting worse as they roll them out elsewhere.

[Nightjar]

Perhaps they are more used to the type I encounter at my local Esso station, which automatically detects pay at the pump by whether or not you start off by inserting a card.

[fred]

In article , DerbyBorn writes

I wasn't offended, I chose to shop where I wasn't subject to that kind of inconvenience.

Some of the attitude and treatment could have been offensive however:

There was no signage to indicate pre-pay, the bored and feckless assistant made no attempt to indicate the situation and I was forced to visit the shed to find out why the pump hadn't been turned on. When doing this I was greeted as the village idiot for not understanding that, "it's wot you do round 'ere". Additionally, as I always fill up, I had no idea how much to prepay. Actually, it was probably a CC transaction and I certainly wasn't going to leave my card with that scrote.

[Peter Johnson]

That's what I susually do, at Tesco pumps, and I've never had any problem with the machines detecting the card and knowing what to do with it.