Why no ‘pay at the pump’ in UK?

[Enrichetta]

Why don’t we have pay at the pump technology like they have in other countries, for instance the US…

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/21/petrol-theft-crisis-uk

it seems an obvious solution to what has clearly become a real,problem.

Do you mean you have to pay before the pump will dispense petrol? I've seen that abroad, but it's difficult with hire cars because you don't know how much you need and there's buttons that will give you 10, 20, 50 etc euros of fuel.

Like other posters on here, I'm baffled.
I use pay at the pump at the Tesco garage, have done for years. How have you missed this?

They want you to go into the shop and buy food/ drinks since that’s where they make money- they barely make anything on fuel.

also America is different, state systems are necessarily joined up. ANPR is a lot more sophisticated to catch people who take petrol without paying (obv nothing you can do about stolen vehicles)

tbh it won’t be long before petrol stations are obsolete so why invest in changing the way we do it?

Well yes, I’m clearly behind the times. I don’t have car and the petrol station where I sometimes buy groceries does not have pay at the pump - drivers come into the shop to pay.

Strange that the article doesn’t mention this obvious solution, which is why I was puzzled. But never mind…… as you were - carry on pumping 🤣

We do.

We do, but not all the pumps are.

Even better than pay at the pump, attended pumps. I just pull up and a lovely young person comes and pumps my gas, cleans the windscreen, checks and tops up my washer fluid and some even offer a free coffee. It's the best thing ever. Especially in the winter when it's minus degrees and snowing. I don't think I've pumped my own gas for at least 10yrs.

Well presumably that man has chosen not to install pay at pump at his garages

There's a small village petrol station I often use that doesn't have it but most do

Edit to add - pay at pump is often optional so you don't have to use it and people can still steal petrol

There is pay at pump in the UK….

I think smaller independently owned garages are less likely to have pay-at-pump because obviously the pumps are more expensive to install and all need data access for payment processing.

I presume people who are planning not to pay choose to go to the independent operators (who find it harder to cope with the losses) rather than the petrol stations attached to supermarkets.

If you don't drive, did it not even occur to you to ask if we have this technology in the UK? It was a weird assumption to make.

I do still go into the shop to pay at Tesco sometimes because the pay at pump requires my physical bank card and I don't always have it with me as I just use my phone.

Now I would like to see all of the pay at pump machines updated to be able to accept contactless payment, but that's a whole other conversation. I guess that most of them were probably installed before everyone started paying for everything on their phones!

This is such a funny thread!

I only use pay at pump. Always. Haven’t set foot in a petrol station for years!

Yes but you can still fill up and pay in the shop.

I think the OP meant make it pay at pump only- you can’t drive away without paying then.

We do!

Many pp have answered your question, but while we're on the subject there are a few things from the US I would like to see implemented here.

Drive through pharmacy

Drive through ATM

More strip malls

Creche you can leave your kids in at the gym

Creche you can leave your kids in at the supermarket

Screen doors

Air Con (obvs)

What? Of course there is!

Pay at Pump is ubiquitous and has been for years. Smaller, independents sometimes don’t have it, or older stations. But generally speaking they are everywhere. Are you from here? Or is this one of these US bot-type ‘Great Britain is so backwards’ threads?

Wait till you learn how advanced our banking system is compared to theirs!

None of my local petrol stations have pay at pump. The owners don’t want them as they make more money on selling stuff in the shop than they do on selling petrol. If people routinely pay at the pump they are less likely to go into the shop and make an impulse purchase.

Petrol stations obsolete? Not for a few decades yet ! Not everyone can go electric.

I don't drive but even I know pay at the pump has been around for decades!

Nope, they were just oblivious.

They’ll have to when second hand petrol/ diesel cars are rare as unicorns 😁

Shell
BP
Sainsbury
Esso
Tesco
Morrisons
Asda

All pay at pump.

Our Asda fuel station is pay at pump only - there isn't even a kiosk!

You can pay by app at our village small Esso garage.

Our big town Sainsbury has pay at pump as does the Morrisons.