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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

its not difficult to understand that you can fill up the car from either side

147 replies

ljwales · 09/04/2015 17:50

Why do so many people not understand this? Just wasted 10mins when running late as there was a huge q despite being free pumps! Sadly I couldn't get to them as other people were blocking.

I've driven vans and you can fill up either side. So there really is no excuse!

OP posts:
magicbeans4733 · 09/04/2015 20:38

It depends on the car. It's easy to to do it from the wrong side in a smaller car, but it's impossible in some bigger cars.

Proudmummytodc2 · 09/04/2015 20:41

Everyone has their own way and reasons for doing things granted they shouldn't have blocked you that's out if order but in my area there is only 2 fuel stations that u can pull over to the other side big noticed as well but I have stomach problems and struggle to pull them over so I prefer to just use my side of the pump and I am entitled to! Just like people are entitled to use the wrong side doesn't make us "thick"

Also to the person who said they should be shot I'm actually offended by that people who do this don't deserve that my fil was murdered by being shot for no reason so I don't really find this a 'joke' or 'lighthearted' as in the way you meant it it's quiet offensive to people who have been threw a horrendous time by losing a loved one this way

ShouldIworryornothelp · 09/04/2015 20:43

I don't. I have various disabilities that make lifting a heavy fuel pump round a car difficult

I'd rather wait for my side - incidently seems to be the side with least queues anyway

BackOnPlanetEarth · 09/04/2015 20:47

It's usually easy to tell if the hoze will reach. If I'm not sure I wait until a pump becomes available on the 'right' side otherwise I just go to the first free pump.

If the pump looks something like in this picture then it's going to reach without ANY need for it to touch your car or van AND surely (?) it's no more physically difficult than if it's on the right side - provided you position your car correctly. It's not rocket science Confused

its not difficult to understand that you can fill up the car from either side
MaryWestmacott · 09/04/2015 20:50

I don't - I know logically I could do this - but when I first passed my test in the last century I went to a petrol station and tried to fill from the other side. Basically, it wasn't a station where the pumps could reach/stretch. I tried for what like a million years, various attempts, getting more and more stressed and embarressed while some white van blokes across the forecourt openly laughed at me. Eventally, someone who worked there, took pity on me and wandered over to explain that it would never stretch, and did I want to reposition my car round at one of the other pumps that was now free...

I thanked him, got back in my car, drove off, went to another petrol station to fill up. Then never returned to that petrol station again or tried to fill up on the other side again.

OP - I don't see why the fact you were already late and didn't leave enough time to fill up your car was anyone else's fault but your own.

Original poster
ljwales · 09/04/2015 20:52

Oh stop with this sanctimonious I'm never late and its your own fault crap. How was I to know there would be a major accident and the main road would be closed making me 40 mins late, we can all get held up in traffic.

What I do object to is waiting to use a pump when there was a few free but being blocked.

OP posts:
awfulomission · 09/04/2015 20:55

I realise they'll probably reach. I just don't like the faff and I've a dicky shoulder so I wait.

You're right, it's not rocket science!

inabeautifulplace · 09/04/2015 20:58

Your complaint is surely that people shouldn't block access to pumps they aren't using. If they did as you say, then you'd be queuing behind them on the wrong side...
My car has the filler cap on the wron side. Very handy :)

kickassangel · 09/04/2015 20:59

some places the pumps are so close together that pulling forward means blocking the pump in front. i've also encountered hoses that are meant to pull out but are so stiff that i have to pull my whole weight on it to get it to budge.

OrlandoWoolf · 09/04/2015 21:02

What I do object to is waiting to use a pump when there was a few free but being blocked

So that's your OP? AIBU to think people shouldn't block access to pumps?

DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease · 09/04/2015 21:09

More people know you can fill both sides but choose not to than understand what the little catch inside the trigger is for, I would think.

Starlightbright1 · 09/04/2015 21:16

I don't want to use the wrong side so I don't.. I am never in such a rush I can't wait for the right pump.

Lavenderice · 09/04/2015 21:19

I can't do this, I'm just 5ft and I can't reach to drape the hose over the top. It's not my fault that this makes you or anyone else late, you should have left on time.

ragged · 09/04/2015 21:20

I can't, at least I have tried & the hose just didn't stretch & other drivers are Really Angry if you want to move or cut into their line, not that I wanted to drive around & queue again for ages. I couldn't dare risk it again, no way. Only fill up the big car about 2x/yr so I am never gonna remember these special hose recognition rules about what stretches & what doesn't.

Sometimes risk it with my tiny car.

Original poster
ljwales · 09/04/2015 21:21

Great more people that are never in a rush and blame me for being held up in traffic. The air must be quite thin up there.

OP posts:
OrlandoWoolf · 09/04/2015 21:22

Great more people that are never in a rush and blame me for being held up in traffic. The air must be quite thin up there

You seem quite angry about this. Are you alright [head tilt, concerned look]

IFinishedTheBiscuits · 09/04/2015 21:24

What do you mean by 'blocking' OP?

My pet hate is when you're at the pump, the car at the pump in front drives off and the person waiting behind you drives round you to the pump in front of you and starts filling up, and then two cars pull up at the pumps next to you and impatient car and you're blocked in.

MajesticWhine · 09/04/2015 21:24

I always choose to fill up on the nearside. I can't recall having waited in a queue of cars for the nearside while there are other pumps free. But in the event, I wouldn't mind waiting a few minutes for the easier option. Not because anything is difficult to understand, but because I prefer it and i usually fill up with petrol when I'm not in a hurry Smile

minionsrule · 09/04/2015 21:33

YANBU - I think I am the only person in the world who actually deliberately fills up from the wrong side, even if pumps on the right side are free. For some weird reason, my tank is more tricky to fill up from the right side, pump keeps stopping like its full.
If I do it from the wrong side it doesn't keep stopping so much - usually keeps filling till full Confused

MidniteScribbler · 09/04/2015 21:45

If I'm in my big 4x4 it WILL NOT FIT. It's a big bastard of a car, and has an extended and raised canopy on the back full of built in dog cages. I have tried numerous times. I cannot get it over the top, and the back is too long to stretch it around. There is just no physically possible way for it to be done.

But sit there in your smugness and assume I'm just a 'thicko' for not filling up on the opposite side. I'll sit here in my smugness assuming you're a self obsessed, impatient arse who can't see past the end of their own nose. Deal?

Lucked · 09/04/2015 21:47

The one time I tried this it would not reach, I found it a bit embarrassing trying to tug and pull it round and getting no where near in a busy station. It was a use both sides pump and I assume I was too far out or not far enough forward but I couldn't be bothered flaffing about moving the car when I wasn't sure it would reach. I just went to another petrol station and I haven't tried since.

I rarely fill up at peak times, I can't remember the last time I had to wait.

OrlandoWoolf · 09/04/2015 21:50

You'd probably hate me as well. Sometimes I can't seem to get the pump to work. It spurts out some petrol. Then stops. I do it again. It works for a bit.

Eventually the flow starts. Then I go into the shop, get some sweets, put a cup under the machine and watch the coffee slowly come out.

AlternativeTentacles · 09/04/2015 22:03

Oh stop with this sanctimonious I'm never late and its your own fault crap
So it's ok to have a go at others but you can't take it back at you?

What I do object to is waiting to use a pump when there was a few free but being blocked So not the people not using the other sides, just the people blocking as presumably if they were using the other sides you would have to wait as the other sides would have been in use?

YABU.

2rebecca · 09/04/2015 22:05

I like the fact that some people seem incapable of filling up the far side of their average sized car from a pump that is obviously long enough to reach it. it usually means there are spare pumps for me whilst the lemmings queue because they are British and like it.

SummerHouse · 09/04/2015 22:30

I don't do it because I am scared.

There.

I said it.