Petrol pump & full grocery shop

I once blankly drove off from my local petrol station. I’d meant to move the car and then go pay as lots of cars waiting and half the pumps 2/4 were closed. I went on autopilot and went to work and had an oh fuck moment later on. Anyway I went back, for drive offs they print off the unpaid receipt and fill out a form with vehicle details. This’ll be uploaded to a database so they don’t release the pumps for your registration and sent to police, they give it 48 hours though as people do sometimes just forget.

I suspect if you routinely did it you’d be barred but they just laughed and assured me it happened all the time and not to worry about it. I paid and that was that.

@queenmeadhbh @notedbiscuits yes at least in ireland wher i am they can as i did it myself only a year ago.

But I think the staff can save drive offs - those forgot to pay - intentionally or accidentally.

If someone drove off without paying, came back to the PS saying “oh I filled up with unleaded at pump 4 at 10am this morning and it was around £42”, could they get this transaction back up on the system?

That makes more sense, but to me there’s still enough time while I’m reparking that someone could quickly fill up, we enter the shop at the same time, then maybe they are at a different till and the person in front of me takes a long time, and they end up at the till before me. Or they go to a self checkout, etc etc.

which is why I fill up, leave car at pump, pay, go back to car, repark, go in and shop. To me that’s the only way to ensure no one else is trying to pay for petrol from the same pump!

or, if as I suspect, you can’t actually use the pump until the person before has paid, the suggestion of reparking before paying so that the next person can drive in doesn’t really save them any time as they’ve to stand at the pump until it unlocks?!

I agree that blocking a pump to get shopping is a selfish thing to do so I always go in, pay, and then repark, but I’m still confused by the people who are suggesting you can repark before paying without causing some issue!

Exactly - I don't quite understand how it all works, but you raise good points

There is a Sainsbury’s petrol station which I refuse to use the middle row of pumps. I think there are 24 pumps in a 8x3 grid. As the problem is people park too far out from pump to get past. If using a back row pump, I reverse a bit then drive out. On a few occasions I had to ask the driver who was waiting almost bumper to bumper to move

I think you need to pay before shopping. I think the system is that when a customer comes in and pays and says pump number 4, the system knows the live price on the pump.

Some petrol stations are attached to Spar, Tesco Express, Morrisons, M&S which are big enough to have 7am-10pm/open 24/7. Those people who decide to do some grocery shopping, pay for their fuel, park in a bay away from the pumps then do shopping.

Petrol stations at supermarkets should only have things like soft drinks, sweets, magazines and cigs. If want anything else, go to the supermarket.

It's baffling that it needs saying/explaining isn't it?

@Blondiebeachbabe I’m so glad others don’t think I’m mad when I originally posted about this on another thread - this one was attached to a Tesco express and the person was definitely gone at least 10 minutes , with no queue to pay in the shop and a huge queue building behind at the pumps - you couldn’t even manoeuvre to use another pump in our queue due to the queue behind- only garage for about 3 miles too in any direction. If it makes anyone think twice if they do this, I’m glad I posted - by all means do some shopping, but pay for fuel and move away from the pumps to the parking bays.

Surely you get your fuel, pay for it , then move your car and go back and do your shopping?

Our petrol station is attached to an M&S Food. Once, I saw a lady fill her car, leave it at the pump, then her and her daughter mooched around the shop with 2 baskets at snail speed. I was livid. I mean, what kind of a dick does this? Another time, a bloke had paid for his fuel, came back to car and proceeded to set the baby up with snacks and a drink, then peruse his map, without moving the fucking car away from the pumps! Come on now, how dense can you get? I had to get out and knock his window, asking him to move! Gah!

but once you repark, and before you’ve paid, can the person now coming in to the pump actually use it, or is it locked out until you pay and the transaction is cleared?? I’m nearly 100% sure at the ones I go to you can’t fill up until the person before you has paid.

if you can - then how do staff match the person paying to the right transaction, if there are a couple of them backing up at each pump? What if you’ve reparked, are doing your shopping, then someone else fills up at your pump, goes in to pay, says “pump number 3 please”, wouldn’t they end up paying for your petrol?

Yes, agreed.

If the petrol station is busy and there's a queue for the pumps, I have moved forward into a parking bay after filling up and then go and pay for the petrol.

Apparently a little alarm goes off inside when you move your car, but if the staff see you have parked up and are coming into the store, they have no problem with it. Surely it's better for the petrol station as they are not losing business with drivers going to a different petrol station if there are long queues to fill up.

Other times I'll pay for the petrol first. Being considerate, if I can then see people waiting to fill up whilst I'm queuing, I'll move my car and then do any shopping or visits to the loo etc, afterwards.

For anyone disagreeing it’s possible to do a large/full shop, this is our local petrol station and the shop is enormous. Fresh meat, deli counter, barista bar etc. self check outs also (can pay for fuel but need staff authorisation)

https://neighbourhoodretailer.com/south-belfast-supermarket-officially-reopens-after-million-pound-renovation/

for people saying you can get fuel, then drive into a parking space, then go in, shop, and pay, I understand the point that you will not be charged with non-payment for this but the crucial point is can anyone use the pump until you’ve finished shopping and paid?? At the ones I’ve been at I’m pretty sure the pump locks until the previous transaction is paid.

either way if I think I’m going to be a long time I get fuel, pay for fuel, return to car, repark then shop.

I used to have a big Tesco express at the petrol station on the way to/from work. As others have said, plenty big enough for me to do my main shop. If it was gone 8 or 9 at night, and dead, I'd leave the car at the pump. Otherwise, I pulled forward into the parking bay. It never caused an issue for paying, sometimes I was paying at the same time as the person who had used the pump after me.

We have Morrisons in a petrol station nearish me and a large co-op in the nearest one, M and S/petrol a bit further away. So we have the shopping/petrol delays.

A new filling station opened near me which is like a small supermarket and you could definitely do a few days' shopping there - there's a butcher's counter, deli bit etc. I only shop if there's nobody really waiting though. I know you can move into a space but I worry I'll mess it up somehow!

But you sometimes you literally can't without driving onto the main road, mine is exactly like that, where you have to join a busy road to get back to the normal parking.

I also have 1 petrol station I go to which doesn't have normal parking, I got told off once for pulling up in front of the petrol station because there was only petrol bays, I was told I had to park up in a petrol bay in future even though I wasn't getting petrol.

There is a separate shop for petrol with meal deals and snacks only. That’s the set up at all the supermarkets in my town. Then there is a big car park for the supermarket.

why, what are yours missing for you to be unable to do a full shop?

That’s what I’ve said I do twice already on this thread.

The petrol station shops don’t have everything for a full shop. Hyperbole?