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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people don’t use both lanes in the petrol station?

248 replies

Horcrux · 01/12/2019 17:05

Do people not realise that the hose reaches around to the other side so that you don’t have to wait to use the tank closest to your cap?
Or do people know this but have a reason for not doing it?
AIBU for parking on either side?

OP posts:
Celebelly · 01/12/2019 17:50

You don't stretch it over. You pull slightly further forward when you park at the pump and bring the hose round the back!

Celebelly · 01/12/2019 17:51

Anyway I've heard tell of these mythical too-short hoses but have thankfully never encountered one! I just go wherever there isn't a queue. And yes, always pay at pump!

MsMoodyMare · 01/12/2019 17:54

I'm not very strong and can't pull it all the way over, sometimes if they are the 'tight' ones they don't pull all the way to the fuel hole either.

Ginfordinner · 01/12/2019 17:55

Do people not realise that the hose reaches around to the other side

The simple answer is that no they don’t always Hmm

BlaueLagune · 01/12/2019 17:55

Do people not realise that the hose reaches around to the other side so that you don’t have to wait to use the tank closest to your cap

Because they don't reach at every (or even most) petrol stations. A petrol station relatively close to me has a sign up to say they have extra-long hoses. Which kind of suggests that in most petrol stations they are not extra-long.

I sometimes have trouble getting them to pull out enough when I'm parked right next to the pump, so I certainly wouldn't want to drag them around the other side.

This is one of those discussion topics which comes up again and again on MN. Some petrol stations have long hoses, the majority do not. So people stick to the "correct" side.

(I learnt from these threads that your dashboard has a sign telling what side your petrol cap is on, which is really useful when your household has two cars with the caps either side, and you forget when driving which is which!)

Oblomov19 · 01/12/2019 17:55

I can't make hose stretch to the other side.

A few times, I struggled to get it over the car and in the hole, and then I also found it very difficult to hold/keep the hose so it continued to stay in place until I finished filling. I finally decided not to do it again.

Now, I only ever pull in to the hose on my side and thus fill easily.

Is that so hard to understand? Hmm

missmouse101 · 01/12/2019 17:56

I can hardly lift the hose as it is since it's very heavy. I do not want to drag it all over the car and possibly damage it. If it doesn't reach, then what? I'm fine queuing thanks. You carry on.

Lillygolightly · 01/12/2019 17:58

Yeah by all means use the first pump that’s free and stretch the hose over.....if you want a ton of scratches on you car. Up to you!

BlaueLagune · 01/12/2019 17:59

Agree with pay with pump being so much more convenient. Our local petrol station was taken over and they took the pay at pump away so that people would go into the shop (presumably in the hope you'd buy something lese). Grrr.

Yesterday I filled up at another petrol station without pay at pump and people were buying lottery tickets and topping up payment cards and all sorts of things. Pay at pump would be really good for those of us who just want petrol!

Celebelly · 01/12/2019 18:00

You don't drag it over the car! You just pull it round the back, not up and over. You have to pull it a little further but you aren't lifting it over your car or damaging it in any way. You pull further forward so the back of your car is level with the pump and then just pull it round.

JoGose · 01/12/2019 18:01

I can never make the hose reach

woodhill · 01/12/2019 18:04

Yes worry of hose spurting out on you

I'll stick to the cap side, much easier and go in to pay

PettyContractor · 01/12/2019 18:06

How can a rubber hose scratch a car? I find this an odd objection.

OhMsBeliever · 01/12/2019 18:06

I'm sure I'd be the person making a complete fuck up of getting the hose over to the other side. So I'll wait. But usually I go to the same petrol station that I know is quiet, so I know I won't have to wait for a space on the right side of the car.

It's not pay at the pump either. Neither was the different one I went to recently. Presumably so you are tempted by the massive (overpriced) shop, Subway and Costa Coffee. Hmm

ShinyGiratina · 01/12/2019 18:11

Because the majority of petrol pumps were designed by inconsiderate men with gigantuan hands. Being on the small end of womanhood, it was hard enough finding a bigger car anyway. It's too much body strength to pull on the hose around the back end of the car, and apply force through both my stupidly small hands to hold sufficient pressure on the lever in most petrol stations.

The cashier in Sainsbury's was bemused my my enthusiastic gushing that their petrol pump was wonderful because I could actually squeeze it with one hand. Alas because it's a mini-supermarket, huge queues build up there while people faff about shopping so I only go if desperate.

If petrol stations were sensibly designed, I wouldn't need to waste my time queuing up for the popular side as I'm really not doing it just for a laugh!

Dentures101 · 01/12/2019 18:11

I did this the other Day. It didn't reach. I then had to wait to reverse to a different pump. It was very embarrassing

Passthecherrycoke · 01/12/2019 18:11

They don’t always reach, as others have said. I know the stations which don’t reach unless I’m on the correct side

Dentures101 · 01/12/2019 18:13

Also I was being laughed at. I'm probably a meme on Facebook somewhere now!

BigRedBoat · 01/12/2019 18:13

I drive a pick up truck, it won't reach (over the top or round the back) as I found to my embarrassment in Tesco once Blush

SmileyClare · 01/12/2019 18:14

If someone wants to nip in a free lane and pull the hose over their car then great.

The worst is those that look all smug about it; glancing around and revelling in the fact that they're better at life than all those mugs that don't faff about dragging a hose around to save 4 minutes.

TriangularRatbag · 01/12/2019 18:14

You don't stretch it over. You pull slightly further forward when you park at the pump and bring the hose round the back!

I only ever drive a handful of times a year, all sorts of differently-sized rental cars and vans. When I need to fill up I never know which side the filling cap is on, because I don't know the car/van. I just go to whichever pump becomes free first and if necessary follow the procedure above. I've never found a hose that doesn't reach.

TabbyMumz · 01/12/2019 18:16

"If you park as close as you can to the pump the hose will always reach round the other side"

No it wont. Sometimes they jam and you cant get it out enough.

TabbyMumz · 01/12/2019 18:18

"I never know which side the filling cap is on"
If you look on your dashboard, where the symbols are lit up, it shows a little symbol of a fuel pump. Whatever side the handle is on, indicates the side of the car the fuel cap is. I only learnt this recently.

Alsohuman · 01/12/2019 18:19

At 5ft 2in it doesn’t work for me. Is that good enough?

TriangularRatbag · 01/12/2019 18:21

If you look on your dashboard, where the symbols are lit up, it shows a little symbol of a fuel pump. Whatever side the handle is on, indicates the side of the car the fuel cap is. I only learnt this recently.

Oooh, thanks Tabby! That's a very helpful tip. (Although I guess I'll still go to whichever pump is free first.)