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.

My local big Asda has them and I use them often.

Well that was embarrasing.

Are you posting from 1975 @Enrichetta ???

I have been using Pay At Pump since I learned to drive in the mid 1990s. DH used to use 'pay at pump' pumps when we first started dating (mid 1980s.) Been around at least 40 years that I know of.

“Pay at the pump” in the U.S. means the pump doesn’t work until you pay.

you only have to declare an actual amount if you go inside and pay cash. Most people just provide their card and stop pumping when the tank is full or when they hit about the amount they want to spend.

I haven’t encountered a non pay at the pump situation in the U.S. since the 1990s.

All Morrisons used to be “pay at pump” until their petrol stations were either sold or run by a different company. Now they want you to go in and pay because then you’re more likely to buy something in kiosk.

It was quite annoying as they used make out the pay at pump was temporarily unavailable but all
along they just wanted you to
go in and pay

It would preauthorise £50, then charge £43.72
You would not pay £50 - but it depends on the garage and your banks processing on whether the £50 is instantly released or within a timeframe

I don’t even drive and know you can pay at the pump!

It’s pretty much on the same basis here

The pump will not dispense until either you pre-authorise an amount or the staff press a button enabling the pump

Some independent garages with old pumps may have pumps that are just “on”, the majority of garages control access to the pumps at the counter, this allows them to judge circumstances such as “get off the phone”, a child attempts to use the pump or as mentioned in the article the vehicle is a recognised on a registration blacklist

(Criminals will just clone another registration)

I live in Bristol and there's literally pay at pump options at almost every petrol station.

I’ve found it the other way; we’ve been using pay at the pump for years here by either using a card or an app, whereas when we’ve filled up in America we’ve had to go in to prepay for the fuel and guess how much we’re going to need to fill the hire car up.

I asked google - it tells me that it's available here but not universal, that it's mainly at supermarkets but not so much at independents. We just don't have it round here - the petrol stations near me (London) are tiny, honestly really small affairs, even though they are operated by the big operators. And I have never seen it.

Loads of pay at pumps round here, really annoys me as ai don’t want to pay at the pump all the time. Happy to pay in the store but no.

We do up north

Where i live we don’t have it locally. I can’t think where the nearest is actually.

You pay at the pump at most supermarket garages in the N Midlands.

Same. Most of the petrol stations round here have shops attached so they want you to come in to pay. But I am aware that pay at pump exists in the U.K. it is definitely more common in other countries though.

We do. Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tescoes all have pay at the pump. Many garages on main roads do not. Not sure if this is because of fraud or some other reason.

We do have pay at the pump in the UK.

In the US you can’t just wait for a member of staff to press the button - I think that’s the big difference. You have to either provide payment at the pump with Applepay or a card, or go in and pay in advance.

There are a few near me but I’m in Maine, so perhaps less surprising. We also have huge areas with no phone signal or internet connection…

I've just filled up at Sainsburys and paid at the pump>

Did you pay first or filled up with petrol first?

I know that OP has already recognised that she was wrong. But this thread has got me trying to remember when I last went into a shop/kiosk to pay for my petrol. And I honestly can't remember. It's certainly years. Though I have a vague memory of a seaside town petrol station where I might have had to. Or I might have just pulled into its shop for something.

I’m actually surprised at how many people here say they only use pay at pump. I’m obviously aware that it exists in the UK and have used them on motoways but none of our local petrol have it so I assumed it was quite rare. I’ve seen it far more frequently in France than in the UK.

I assume the OP means paying before you fill up. Like in the States where you pay for $40, then fill up and the pump cuts off at $40 of fuel.

I wish we had that over here. It would stop the thieving little shits stealing fuel.