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.

Have used PATP for decades so no idea where that article got it's information.🤔

First saw it at a small unmanned 24hr filling station on the Torquay Road out of Shaldon (Teignmouth) in Devon.
It was 1976 (yes, the HOT summer) and my brother was buying fuel and the only payment method was to pull out a tray, place a note on the tray (probably £1), push the tray back in and when payment was accepted, the pump dispensed £1 of fuel.
It was very hit & miss with not every note being accepted but it was a fascinating view into the future and of course, allowed you to buy fuel when many normal fillings stations were closed.

I love a proper service station where someone does it for you and checks the tyres and washes your windscreen...and where you can barter for the price of petrol...

Wish the UK had this!

I think it is mainly at the supermarket stations

There are some new, unstaffed ones where I live and you can nominate the amount you want in advance and it will cut off when filling - £10-£100. You can also pay cash. However, bizarrely, you can’t use a phone to pay, only cash or a physical card, even though they have contactless pads. This catches a lot of people out, as so many people want to pay by phone these days.

We have this near me, well not the bartering about petrol prices, but certainly have two petrol stations near me where the man comes out and fills your car. You’re not allowed to do it yourself.

We have had pay at the pump for years but it’s not universal. I have just come back from driving round several European countries and there were a lot more small unmanned garages (or part time manned) with pay at pump, that seemed quite different from what we have here.

We do. More importantly why don't we have the people who will put it in for you? I would pay extra for someone else to do it for me.

The petrol station in the little village near us still does this!

We do have pay at the pump technology. We always pay at the pump and have done for years! Where do you live in the UK?

We still do in rural areas. The local village station still fill up for you and will come out and tell you off if you try and DIY, lol.

My parent used to have one of these near them. They called it "Elf-service". The little man with his bobble hat used to pop out as you pulled up and say "what is it today, sir?"
Although if he didn't like you he was quite capable of letting a tyre down - and charging to blow it up again.

But pay at pump has definitely been around since I leant to drive which was about 2006.

Where is this....I might move there!

I remember this in Devon in the 70s! One year there was a fuel shortage and only regulars were being served at the staffed stations. We then had to go to one like this, possibly the one mentioned, only to have a further palaver because said pump would only take ‘old’ £1 notes, not the ‘new’ ones that we had. A visit to the bank was involved and adult tempers were very strained …

I am guessing the amount lost to fuel thefts does not stack up against the cost of installing pay at the pump technology.

They could have advance payment. IIRC on the manual pumps the attendent has to activate it before it will start pumping. But that would probably piss a lot of people off.

Maybe there could be some sort of half way house where there is a chip and pin machine, but not an actual pay at the pump machine at each station. Then the chip and pin machine could take say a £100 deposit before that is cleared after the car is fuelled and it is paid for. A simple chip and pin machine like this surely would cost a lot less than replacing a full pump.

Our tiny, arse end of nowhere town's, garage has pay at pump, they had it installed during covid. I must admit it caused consternation among the locals at the time, but I think its been accepted now. I like it because it stops me making impulse buys of chocolate, well done me being healthy, and I dislike for precisely the same reason, I deserve chocolate for going to the garage.

Very rural Cumbria!

I don't use pay at pump because it requires a physical bank card, and I just carry my phone around using apple wallet for day to day spending, so I just go inside to pay. I lock the car when going inside to pay which does prevent the car or items being knicked.

Is the difference, paying before you fill up? Are the pumps in this country more pay after you fill up, otherwise would have the same issue of people driving off without paying

Literally just did t at Sainsbury's

Eh? There are loads near me and been around for over a decade

Asda and Morrison's both have pay at the pump. I use them all the time

We do OP 😂😂

What does piss me off is the £99 limit they all have. Regularly need more than that so have to use the kiosk option.

The massive ASDA near me has an unmanned pay at pump, no kiosk, nothing...

Bye then