[Closed] petrol station etiquette

I go B, until such a time as someone arrives and wants to queue behind me, then its decision time. By then I have normally worked out who is in the station paying and who is standing by their car putting petrol in it.

Go round them.

C) Drive in the opposite way to everyone else and gesticulate furiously at nobody in particular before angrily reversing out (onto the main and only A road in to that part of the world) and beggaring off. (Newby Bridge Texaco first thing this morning)

C, ask my driver to ram the red car out of the way. I mean good grief, a red car, what a bell end.

Neither. I simply drive around all the people queuing for the pumps on the same side as their filling cap who don't know that the petrol hose will reach either side of their car, and fill away!
😀

I usually pick the queue which has two people who have filled up then decided to do their weekly shop.

Or maybe

D) you're a woman and notice that there's one free pump in front of a car that's being filled and the pump is on the wrong side for your car. No matter squeeze between the queuing cars, reverse back up to the vacant pump at an angle, blocking the car behind you and stretch that pump hose like a bow string. Faff about with bags and cards in the shop etc etc

D) Cycle past petrol station, taking care to avoid cars from B) or C) as appropriate.

The problem is squewed as so many people only seem to want to pick a pump that is to the fuel filler cap side of the car, usually the drivers side of the car, not realising that the hose is long enough to stretch round the back of your car. So I tend to see long queues forming at half of the pumps, so I just bypass the queues and fill up at a pump that is on the 'wrong side' of my car. There must be a larger proportion of cars with the fuel filler caps on the drivers side.

But to answer the original question, I tend towards A, but often revert to B as people behind bypass me as they are follow option B. Its the same with McDonalds queues - it should be one queue for all tills - first come first served, not queues for individual tills.

I usually pick the queue which has two people who have filled up then decided to do their weekly shop

This. What's wrong with petrol stations that sell petrol and Ginsters, and supermarkets that sell groceries. Whose idea was it to mix up the two?

Neither. I simply drive around all the people queuing for the pumps on the same side as their filling cap who don't know that the petrol hose will reach either side of their car, and fill away!

I did this some years ago, very smugly, only to find that at this particularly pump the hoses weren't actually quite long enough and I had to get back in and drive to another one. To be honest I was tempted to just go to another petrol station such was my shame!

Took me a while to get over that.

I usually go past the big queue of people waiting for a pump on the filler side of their car, to the very empty other side of the pump, and pull the hose across. Then do my weekly shop before paying.

I ride a motorbike, what is this queuing you speak of?

thegreat idea of pulling your hose across the car is fine till you drive up and realise its not long enough to go over the roof of your van 🙁 BP im looking at you.

most places its fine

People not moving up when there is people queuing gets my goat.

Had a prat the other day sitting in the driving seat of his car at the first pump while his passenger did some shopping despite the car at the pump in front of him driving off. I would have gone round and blocked him but I had the sheep trailer on the back. Never been more tempted to push someone's car out of the way.

I'll just repeat what someone else said, feeling all smug, even though I can only read one post per thread 😛

I'll ask my chauffeur and get back to you

I saw someone do B last night so I just drove round the back of him and did A.
then a pump on his wrong side opened up and he drove into it. But before he could get out of the car, another pump on his right side opened up, so he did some more manoeuvring. Silly man, I thought.

I'll wait for whichever pump isn't watched by CCTV. I don't mind the delay, gives me time to make sure my baseball cap is pulled down really low.

C, sit blocking the entrance while 4 of the pump spaces are free except they are on the "wrong side".

I pick a spot because if you wait at the entrance, 2 cars behind you is on the main road. I've cycled past the place when it has been gridlock because the queue is blockign the road. THey actually have a sign now saying all the pumps reach both sides of a car and you should pull forwards to the end pump to stop queuing on the road.

I was amused by a chap yesterday at the petrol station, i got to an empty pump with a car filling at the pump in front of me ( got there at the same time) she put in about a tenner and left (pay at pump) i was putting about £80 in (i know, I'm flash like that). The highly impatient bloke behind me didn't want to wait the extra 30secs and pulled round me to the pump but ballsed up his reverse such that he was too far from the pump (about 10 feet away!). he got back in his car and got closer and got out just as i was getting in to pull away, it was at this point he realized the diesel pumps were out of order with big yellow tags and my space had now been filled... 😀 impatience is not a virtue..

thegreat idea of pulling your hose across the car is fine till you drive up and realise its not long enough to go over the roof of your van

Another benefit of the mid-life-crisis sporty little number 😀

C. Ride my motorbike through the line of cars pull up behind a car thats finished filling whose owner has gone to do her weekly shop and fuel up my bike.

c) driveaway to the next closest petrol station, mind that bicycle the ride past you

Option B (as it's the most efficient for everyone) but only if the forecourt is big enough that no one ends up on the road. Otherwise option A.

edit!

G. Drive an LPG car and never have to queue for a pump again

I go B, until such a time as someone arrives and wants to queue behind me, then its decision time. By then I have normally worked out who is in the station paying and who is standing by their car putting petrol in it.

This usualy, and pull upto any pump and reach arround.

Had a prat the other day sitting in the driving seat of his car at the first pump while his passenger did some shopping despite the car at the pump in front of him driving off. I would have gone round and blocked him but I had the sheep trailer on the back. Never been more tempted to push someone's car out of the way.

Problem is, it won't let you use the pump untill she's paid for hers anyway. I've been in your position when the guy was considerate and drove foreward into the parking space infront of the shop, then had to wait while he did his shop as the pump wouldn't re-set till he paid!

What about people who use the pay-at-pump pumps when there's normal ones free, then go into the shop to pay? What about them, hmm? HMMM?

I **** hate those bastards.

To make more space to park why not drive upto about a foot from the car bumper in front, and gently rest foot on acelerator, it seems to provoke a reaction

Also the staff hate 5 pence pieces, so always go over by 5p and then offer a note much higher than the value of fuel, they then have to give you a 5p back, and all that horrible change they dont then have to count.

On pay and drive off pumps, always start by staring at the pump for minutes, reading the instructions loudly, then asking the passenger to do the same, eventually put fuel in vehicle, then slowly recite your pin number, and follow this up with a slow walk to the kiosk, and ask for a receipt, even though the pump gives one out.

i usually fill up late at night when its not busy...

but if i have to during the day then its A/B as in i'd park just inside the forecourt and spot which driver has filled up, paid and is going to leave first...i then park behind them and wait for them to slowly get in the car, sort themselves out, do some other random time wasting tasks by which time some of the other pumps are now free and i'm sat there cursing the idiot i'm stuck behind...

As a work fuel card user I do quite enjoy the harumphing and sighing that goes on behind me in the queue because I've got to answer 2 questions, mileage and registration.

What about people who use the pay-at-pump pumps

I'm good at accidentally selecting pay at the till on those, usually avoid using them as sometimes they run out of receipts which I need.

" Drive an LPG car and never have to queue for a pump again"

spend half your life looking for a petrol station that actually has LPG 😀

Ever played the silly game in your head of trying to match the first person at the head of a queue, with their corresponding car, to decide which queue to plump for?

No? Just me then 🙂

I'll happily fill up from the 'wrong' side, and if you park far enough forward you don't even have to touch your car with the hose. This can cause confusion for halfwits though, such as the chap in his campervan who pulled right up behind my car, and started trying to fill up with the diesel nozzle while I was only halfway through filling up with petrol. When I suggested that he might need to wait until I'd finished he got all uppity - 'Why, you're not using this one are you' he said, indicating the nozzle in his hand. 'No mate, but I am still using the display, but you carry on'. Took me ages to choose my sweets as well that day.

I love the geeks who return to their car after paying and then set about entering the sale details into their phone - JUST GET A BLOODY MOVE ON! 8)

Only visit once a month, at a time when it's not very busy, why go when all the daft tools who wait till the f**** light comes on congregate.

I use my superior powers of observation and enormous intellect to predict which car will be finished first, and queue behind that. And then all the other cars instantly leave

I'll happily fill up from the 'wrong' side, and if you park far enough forward you don't even have to touch your car with the hose

Problem with that in some petrol stations is you can block the route in front of your car.

You do get funny looks from people waiting for a right side pump to free up when you just go an fill up on the wrong side though. Mixture of them hating you and thinking they should have done that.

Another annoyance from my local station is people parking infront of the tyre inflater and then going to do their shopping when there is a perfectly good car park round the side. The OH now just makes a point of parking right up to their car and blocking them in so they have to wait for her to finish checking the tyres 😀

rocketman - Member
Or maybe
D) you're a woman and notice that there's one free pump in front of a car that's being filled and the pump is on the wrong side for your car. No matter squeeze between the queuing cars, reverse back up to the vacant pump at an angle, blocking the car behind you and stretch that pump hose like a bow string. Faff about with bags and cards in the shop etc etc
POSTED 5 HOURS AGO #

I just drive up to the massive bowser on site and fill up with pink. Occasionally I need to wait for the D8 to fill up though.

Kidding, I'd go round some dick doing "B" and queue or roll up to a pump on the wrong side and fill away being totally oblivious to the queue the fool thought he was making.

I went for A the other week squeezing past the big van that looked like it was in the left hand queue as I went to the right (over that way and wheels pointing left). He definitely was not happy as he wanted a 5l plastic can of petrol and didn't care which side it came from. I wanted £75 of diesel and a selection of journey snacks..

He was fine after I realised what I'd done and apologised. 😳

Not a problem for me, There's never a queue for the 5000ltr red diesel tank on the farm.

It only seems to be a recent problem, since the advent of the supermarket petrol station!
Back when I were 17 you rolled up, picked a pump and took yer chances.
Thankfully our tesco has two lanes entering so bypassing the B's is pretty easy 🙂