To have run the petrol down to 40 miles left

They do really cheap petro at Costo, often 8p a litre cheaper than my cheapest local. It's quite a trek so any time we are in the area we fill up even if only a quarter tank

Oh yeah..I basically married my mother. It was she who trained me to accept a level of abuse was normal. Practically groomed me for my OHs . There’s a reason my brother left home and moved abroad aged 18, and I left home and moved 300 miles away, when she pushed me too far, as soon as I was out of school at 18

Pity. I didn’t either or I’d have left when the eldest was 6 months old, when the day came I Knew without a shadow of doubt, I’d made a mistake.
I left with a 14 yr old and a 4yr old. The eldest had gone to sea by then. He’d almost come to blows with his Dad and was only stopped by his grandfather. His Dad had threatened him first but the boy was bigger and stronger by then so wasn’t backing down. The boys were ok till they hit puberty, then it was the old bull trying to stay on top of the young ones. They saw the way he treated me, the way he talked to me, bossed me about, ordered me around made me work all the time he was working then do the housework etc on my own while he had his feet up .they even started calling me ‘Woman’ instead of Mum lol. But he had also begun to turn on them, calling them useless, unemployable by anyone else, so they had to work at what he wanted them to. He just had to be superior. Even though he wasn’t.

The youngest aged 3 at the time, saw him drag me by the hair. Or push me against a wall with his hand round my throat. He wasn’t always that bad. It was purely verbal for years, then escalated. He just hated anything he thought was disrespectful and I was only allowed to say ‘yes, dear’ in company. Ie speak when spoken to. Anything else was disrespecting him. I could not do right for doing wrong.

Oh dear. That’s a choice only you can make.
Also re running. I know it’s difficult with children. You do have to consider how your children are going to view what’s normal in a marriage when they grow up. Sadly, those who grow up in abusive environments can go on to be abusive, because it’s been normalised for them. Or else, they accept abusive relationships because it’s been normalised for them.
If you have family that can help you, I’d think about it. Sooner rather than later. It’s not just about putting up with crap because it’s easier for you. what’s better for the children? Only you can really answer that since you’re living there.

2 of mine refused to be parents. The eldest won’t even live with anyone.

The last one has a child but is separated from his wife.
I blame myself for not getting out sooner for the first two.

I regularly run down to 0 miles in the tank and know I've still got a bit of residual in the tank. If you do it often enough you know what you can get away with 😉

That said, your question isn't really about the petrol.per se, it's about the way your partner treats you which isn't good and isn't right. Children or not, do them and you a favour and get out of what sounds like an abusive and unsafe situation.

Is there someone you can confide in in real life? Or can you get some counselling? He sounds appalling. It doesn't sound like he has any care for you. xxx

I rarely fill mine until it gets to 20 miles or less as that’s when the light comes on, and my closest petrol station is about 8 miles away!

Only exception is if I’m going into the mountains in winter. I will always start with a full tank as it’s a 150 mile journey and we get a lot of snow so I don’t want to run out in a blizzard!

Run away now. My DH would not dare question me about my car. Its none of his business. I drive mine, he drives his. We respect each other. You calling him a controlling dickhead unfortunately tells that your marriage is over. Run now .

I don’t like mine to go below a half tank! Old hangover of being told it was bad to run it down to near empty so I got over cautious and it became habit. There’s a satisfying comfort in knowing it’s full or near full for whatever may arise.

So what physical abuse have you endured?

It's still physical, it's still abuse.

Thanks @WhosPink
I was catching up on various threads & thinking do these people have pickup pipes in their tanks that slowly move down with the fuel till its at the bottom?
Of course not the pickup pipe is at the lowest point in the tank so no matter how much fuel is in there any crap will get picked up first and as you say get filtered out. I think the posters who have been told about all this corrosion in their tanks must be driving 1970's or older cars 😅
Anyway the OP has a husband who is a knob and he needs a swift kick in the nuts.

I'm just going to ask you this outright - does he hit you? I ask out of concern and apologise if I've offended you.

It wasn’t fumes, it was 40 miles and she finished her journey 1 mile from the petrol station .

40 is 2 bars on my car! Anything under like 15 is squeaky bum time

In 'practice' however, since he's just doing it to give you a ration of shit, he's an asshole and you need to get your duckies in a row.

Maybe he knows that if his wife's totally pointless game of Russian roulette goes wrong and she runs out of petrol she will be calling him to come out and 'rescue' her with a spare can!
What's the point of running on fumes, it's not like putting an extra sweater on to save on the heating, it doesn't save money unless you're taking the car to be traded in, we did once almost have to push the car onto the garage forecourt!

I said YABU but inly because I know how inaccurate mine gets around the 100m mark. If I’m around my home area, I’ll happily go to 50 miles then refill, anywhere else and I’d probably stop before I got to 60.

I regularly run mine to zero miles. I've never actually run out.

Anything under about 20 miles left and I feel like I'm filling up before I need to and so will need to fill up more often!

I never fill mine til the light comes on… what’s the point in doing an annoying job when it doesn’t even need to be done?

You got that right !

Haha you won't make that mistake again!