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

[Horcrux]

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?

I drive a big car and the hose always reaches. I've never come across one that doesn't in years!

I park the car slightly forward then pull the hose straight out from the pump at 90 degrees then once it's pulled right out I walk it forward to the car. That way it's easy.

* some petrol stations really do have hoses that are too short to make this possible Why do some posters not believe this

Because it’s not true

As I said in my post above some garages say when they have longer hoses, so clearly some have shorter ones.

I have only seen one other petrol station other than the one I mentioned in my original post on this thread where you could use the hose on the 'wrong' side - and that was in Germany, not here.

Anyway I am struggling to see how it affects anyone else? I choose my moment to go to the petrol station so I don't have to wait. And if I am a busy motorway service station the chances are I'll have to wait anyway regardless of which side I use.

@Buzz thank you!
At least i know it's not just me it happens to. It's very annoying as it then takes ages to fill up.

£120 to fill a tank! Perhaps I'm very ignorant of big cars, but J.C, what on earth are you driving?!?

I drive one of the smaller Fords, and can fill it for £40, or £45 if I've really let it run down.

I'm tall, long arms, quite strong, my car is titchy and I park right up against the pump with my car pulled forward.

It still doesn't always reach!

@onceandneveragain I find newer cars have the arrow but the position of the arm on the petrol pump does not always equate to the side of the car the petrol pump is on. I also drive plenty of different cars and I was beyond excited when I read on MN that this was a thing. It's only correct around 50% of the time.

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.

This really only applies to the more recent cars. I don't even know what the arrow was originally for, but it certainly wasn't to highlight which side the fuel cap was on. At least two of the cars I've had over the years had the arrow pointing to the opposite side. (My first car also had manual choke 😁)

(My first car also had manual choke 😁)

My parents played a blinder by getting us to think that warming up the car and using the manual choke was a very special treat, while they stayed inside and kept warm

I would rather sit and wait for the right side, than potentially make a right tit of myself trying to reach the hose round the car.

This in spades.

I've tried it twice and it barely stretched. The nozzle didn't feel 100% steady in my car.

I'm rarely in a rush when I fill up so I wait for one on nearest side to be free.

This really only applies to the more recent cars

My last car was a 2007 registration and not very posh (Toyota Auris) and had the arrow so not that recent or upmarket/ahead of its time.

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?

Errrrr... that rather depends on the car you drive. To make the hose reach the wrong side on mine and DH's cars means parking so close to the pump that it's difficult to operate and then risking scratching the cars' bodywork with the petrol hose.

I'll wait for the correct lane thanks.

BlaueLagune

I'm getting on a bit. More recent actually refers to around 2000 onwards 😁

The worst people are the ones that try and hog all the lanes when queuing, and then get shorty when you pull around them to join the queue to the pump you want.

Shorty = shirty

The worst people are the ones that try and hog all the lanes when queuing

Now, I've often wondered about this. If say, all 4 pumps ahead are busy, should you queue for one side only, or "hog" all the lanes.

I don't see a problem with waiting for any vacancy in all 4 pumps - "hogging" as you say - because it's surely the same as when people form one line in front of 2 cash machines. Then formally, one line in the post office. If they were to block someone from going to an empty pump which they don't want themselves, obv that's not on, but what's wrong with forming a queue like we do at cashpoints?

My parents played a blinder by getting us to think that warming up the car and using the manual choke was a very special treat, while they stayed inside and kept warm

I remember reading once of a couple whose car kept going wrong and, every time, the garage told them that the engine was becoming flooded, which was a real puzzler all round.... until one journey when the DM of one of them was travelling with them as she often did, sitting in the front passenger seat, and the driver happened to glance across and notice her availing herself of the handy inbuilt 'handbag hook'

I can 100% guarantee you that the hoses at my local petrol station do not stretch far enough to go round the other side of my car. I have tried a few times (in case the first time I was just being thick). Nope. Doesn’t reach. I also got absolutely filthy hands so fuck that, I’m happy to wait.

An alternative at some very large petrol stations with lots of spare ground and room for manoeuvring (you wouldn't be able to at many, especially if they're busy) if there are huge queues for one side is to turn and reverse in so that the 'wrong' side becomes the 'right' side - as long as there's a way of exiting after paying without getting in people's way.

I've done that on occasion and have seen others doing so.

Alternatively, I wonder if somebody with a Smart car could simply reverse up to the pump rather than drive alongside it, so it would make no actual difference which side the filler hole is on

@Devereux1

Because normally the people who hog all the pumps stop at the entrance to the forecourt, causing delays on the road.

Because normally the people who hog all the pumps stop at the entrance to the forecourt, causing delays on the road.

Well of course that's daft and dangerous. Doesn't always have to be a road blocking problem though. Is that the only objection to doing this?

@devereux1

It's a good enough reason to say that whoever does this is being a prat.

You sound like the type of person who doesn't like people who correctly use filter lanes either.

I have a small car and usually get petrol at sainsburys. I aways used to use the other side with no problem. But since they've had a refit its really difficult to get it to reach so only use the actual side now- so annoying.

@Greatorb
@devereux1 It's a good enough reason to say that whoever does this is being a prat.

So on a large forecourt where there is no possibility of blocking any road, you think anyone queuing for a pump in exactly the same way as people queue in M&S, the post office, and at cashpoints, is "being a prat", but you can't offer any reason why?

You sound like the type of person who doesn't like people who correctly use filter lanes either.

That escalated quickly. My husband and I are advanced drivers. We correctly use filter lanes, thanks very much.

Well after following and participating in this thread, I decided to stop being a 'stupid prat' and use the first available pump and fill from the other side.

I parked close, pulled forward and managed to get the hose under the back of the car, it barely reached but by damn I got it in, pulled the trigger and squirted petrol all over me, shouted "FUCK!" and now smell of eau de unleaded.
I won't do it again