just stretch the hose over your sodding car

[PiperPublickOccurrences]

I don't fill the car with fuel that often as it's mainly just used for around time.

Every time I go to the petrol station the access is blocked by people queuing for a pump on the "correct" side of their car.

If I can stretch the hose over my mum-bus people carrier, you can stretch it over your ford fiesta.

Petrol station etiquette should definitely be on the driving test.

How do you see how much you are putting in? Not everyone can always afford to fill up to the top.

All those saying 'I'm happy to wait' or 'it doesn't affect you'. Of course it affects others, that why people get cross!! Otherwise no one would care.
It affects others because when a petrol station is busy, a car waiting for a spot on the correct side, is often blocking the way to a free petrol pump on the other side.
So, your decision to wait as you're not in rush or whatever, takes the choice away from someone who may well be in a rush.

Mayhem, as I say, I park a bit further forward so that the hose goes around the back of the car. I stand at the rear corner (at the brake lights) whilst I’m filling, I can see the gauge perfectly well from there.

You only need to have your car slightly forward to get the hose around the back of the car. People saying cars are blocking exits/making it a massive squeeeze are exaggerating just a tad. We are talking slightly more forward than the pump, not a whole car length!

But a lot of forecourts (including our locals) don't have space for you to go even slightly in front of the pump without blocking the way out CiderBrains. At our tesco, 4x4s already have to practically line the actual pump up with their bonnet so they don't infringe the exit route.

Not my fault if someone else is in a rush, is it?

The utter fucking smugness on this thread is horrible.

It's life. Sometimes you have to wait.

And no, I don't use the wrong side pump because I don't want to... tried it once and the grit/stones/general crap stuck to the rubber left a lovely deep scratch on my boot.

The station I use has huge signs up saying "Extra Long Hoses, Use Both Sides" so most people do. They are actually very long so it's never been a problem.

I don't have an arrow on my dashboard .
I have my filler on the passenger side and there seem to be less cars with that set up round here.
I have also suffered the indignity of a snapped flap . I was forced to have a different coloured one for the rest of the time I owned that car.

I've never come across a forecourt, even older ones, where pulling your car slightly forward means the whole forecourt of cars cannot exit. We are talking slight. Not a car length or even half a car length.

you only have to have your car slightly forward

Quite, Cider

Here's what I did once, and I thought I was being helpful in a busy petrol station: I filled up, then moved my car to one of the parking spaces in front of the shop, so that somebody else could use the pump, as I had heard that this was perfectly possible. The chap behind the counter told me not to do this again, as it looked like I was driving off without paying. (Admittedly this was inner London, where some petrol stations had the spikes that came out of the ground at the exit to stop non-payers in their tracks.)

Sorry for the derail, but this thread reminds me of a classic Roald Dahl moment (in Danny the Champion of the World), which would make a great Mumsnet AIBU if this sort of thing still happened. Mr Victor Hazell, universally loathed wealthy landowner arrives at rural filling station in the middle of his estate, in his silver Rolls-Royce, and says to eight-year-old Danny who is going to fill her up: "If you make any dirty finger-marks on my paintwork, I'll step right out of this car and give you a good hiding." There follows a huge mutual grudge between him and Danny's father, which forms the plot for the whole book.

BollockstoBrexit
I imagine the locking feature is removed for safety reasons. Different countries have different views. For example I lived in Germany and I wasn’t allowed to stay inside the car when using the car wash despite having to leave the engine running on my automatic car. In the U.K. you aren’t allowed to leave the car unattended.

I love the locking system. So good for weak / frail people or those with arthritis.

I agree with everyone saying it's tough, it's not like it's a really outrageously inconsiderate thing to do, you just have to wait a few more minutes to get your petrol, that's all.

Could argue it's also inconsiderate to try and ridicule people into doing it.

@BollocksToBrexit

"Lock-on" is illegal due to

Good old H&S, mainly 2 risks, any ignition source - no matter how remote (static electricity, spark etc) or it failing and then a large spillage.

A lot of chains require staff to put the pump on hold if they say any one doing it.

Most should be disabled - but some people do it manually (match, pin, fuel cap)

see

OP I have nearly started a thread on this topic so many times.
It drives me insane. Unless you are driving a bus or a bloody great tank there is no need for the hose to go over the car. It can go round the back! I have never once dropped petrol on the car or scratched it filling up.
I love it though when I can jump the queue by filling up on the “wrong” side.

If someone else would like to take over my car and fuel payments then they can dictate how I fill up...but while the payments are my responsibility I will fuel my car how I bloody well want. End of story.

If you want to stretch your hose over the car then do it.
If you don't want to then don't.
What's the issue ?
If it is an issue - buy an electric car and go plug it in somewhere. There's always loads of sockets free !

Don't do it then, if that's what you've decided. But, if you are physically capable of it, and by waiting you're blocking someone get to a free pump; then your decision is selfish. Own it.

@arethereanyleftatall

No, it isn't selfish. I fuel roughly once a week and I've never seen someone taking the hose over/behind the car.

If you're so busy that an extra five minutes throws you into a tizzy then maybe you need to adjust your priorities.

Some garages are fine but a couple near me are not easy to stretch over a people carrier - and you have to hold the hose at an awkward angle. What annoys me far more is why people don't pay at the pump, that's what causes the delay

Definition of selfish - thinking only about how something affects you, with no consideration to how it affects others.

I don't know where you live, mouse, but if you've never seen anyone fill up from the other side, it's no where I've ever been.

I drive a tiny car & I park close to the pump. Too many times I have found the hose simply doesn't stretch that far. Simply not designed to. So stressful.

I love filling up on the 'wrong' side and jumping the queue, but in my local Tesco it is very touch and go whether the hose will fit. I have to park my teeny tiny shoebox car within cm of the pump, pull it all the way forward so the hose goes straight across behind the car. Honestly if you had a 'normal' sized car you'd be stuffed.

I get frustrated with people posting rants in AIBU and not asking a question 🤷🏻‍♀️