Was I out of order for driving into the petrol pump in front rather than waiting?

[HappyPinkHare]

AITA? Just want to get everyone’s opinions on petrol forecourt / station etiquette in the uk. Two petrol pumps are placed one in front of the other, in single lanes, so if someone is in front of you refuelling, you can’t drive past them (you either have to wait or reverse). When I drove into the forecourt, a black car was in pump 1, still filling up and pump 2 (in front of them was free). So I drove up the other lanes and reversed in front of them into pump 2. I got out, opened my petrol cap, paid using my credit card a pin and lifted the nozzle. At that point, the lady came out of her car aggressively and told me to move out of the way so they could drive off the forecourt as they were in a hurry. If I was still in my car, I probably would have moved, but as I was already about to refuel, I asked why she didn’t reverse and go down the other lanes. It basically got out of hand and she was knocking the hose in my hand to stop me from refuelling and screaming saying “are you going to pour petrol on me?” Anyway, after lots of swearing and aggression (from both husband and wife) and me passively refusing to move, they ended up reversing (just one car length by the way) and leaving via the route I had suggested originally. It got me thinking that what I did (reverse into pump 2) was maybe wrong because why were they so angry, was i out of order?

They were unhinged.

I can see it being a bit annoying but I don't think you did anything wrong

They sound possessed! You did nothing wrong.

You mildly inconvenienced them, but would have much more inconvenienced anyone waiting in a queue behind you. So I think your approach here was correct.
The couple sound unhinged

Most petrol stations are one way to avoid this sort of behaviour. You were annoying to go in the exit. They over reacted.

The best bit you can take from this is the knowledge that they will spend the rest of the day seething through all their own doing 😀😀

"I drove up the other lanes and reversed in front of them into pump 2"

Why didn't you just use the pump in the lane you drove up?

Pump 3 and 4 were clear (the lane next to us), they could have just reversed slightly and exited out quite easily. But are you saying I shouldn’t have done that and just waited behind them? What I’m asking is, was it annoying what I did? I didn’t think it was, that’s why I did it..

This. I do think you breached petrol station "etiquette". I've been in lots of petrol stations where its fine to overtake someone in pump 2 to make use of pump 1 - but only when there's room to drive around them (and therefore for them to drive around you when they finish).

A local tesco station by me sounds similar to yours and, annoying as it is to wait when you can see an empty pump in front you just have to suck it up and wait 2 minutes. I'd never dream of driving to the exit and then reversing back -it sounds really dangerous as much as anything else as nobody would be expecting you to do that.

Also while there was space for them to reverse, if anyone else had arrived and queued behind them, there wouldn't have been and they'd have been stuck behind you. If someone had come up behind them while they were reversing that could easily have caused an accident as, again, nobody would be expecting someone to do that.

So while they were clearly unreasonable to have got so aggressive, you did cause the situation.

lol yes they will be seething even more because when they got to the actual exit, they were stuck there. And I ended up pretty much right behind them :)

If they were stuck behind you with no way out then YWBU, otherwise not.

Why didn't you use pump 3 or 4?

Because they were right sided pumps and I needed the left. I guess I could have stretched the hose but I find this more awkward and I didn’t think what I did would annoy anyone.

I think what you did was very normal. People seems to go around with a higher base level of anger at the moment- Covid? CoL? - so are very quick to anger. As PP says they will likely still be furious even now. Just get on with your day and be glad you aren’t as grumpy as them.

I don’t know if you were wrong or right to find another way round. Their reaction was wrong and they only slowed you down.

Our pumps have space if the front one becomes clear for the queueing car to pull round into it. Some people park quite far from the pumps though meaning you can’t drive round the way you should and have to go round the forecourt and reverse back. I was irritated when I found someone on their phone in the front car not worried about taking their time before even starting to refuel whilst a queue built up. There are parking spaces away from pumps for faffing about or popping to the shop/ cash machine.

Obviously their reaction was insane. But if they were ready to leave and you were just about to start filling your car, waiting for them to go wouldn’t have even saved you much time. And if someone had come in and queued behind them, they wouldn’t have been able to reverse. So I do think that what you did is probably not really considered good etiquette. Obviously doesn’t excuse their reaction .

But I don’t understand why you didn’t use the other pumps? Don’t most places nowadays have long enough hoses to go round to the other side of the car?

I do this all the time and seen others do it to.

Yes I was getting a bit nervous at one point because she kept knocking the hose and splashes of petrol were landing on her hands and which point she screamed: are you trying to pour petrol on me?!”

You were helping the queue move faster, surely.

If they don't know how to reverse, not your problem.

Perfectly fine to make use of a pump that is in front of another car.

Would it be a normal thing that people do?

So rather than inconvenience yourself you inconvenienced everyone else? Not to mention caused a safety issue.

I'm honestly surprised people are saying it's fine, i can only assume they aren't envisioning exactly what you mean and are thinking of a normal petrol station where there is room to drive around the car in pump 2 into the space for pump 1. Rather than going outside the whole lane completely, and then reversing back into pump 1.

Like I said I have what sounds like a very similar set up in a petrol station by me and anyone reversing anywhere (either you reversing into pump 1 or them reversing out of pump 2) would be hugely dangerous because nobody would be expecting it and it's not set up for it.

Again though, their reaction made them far more in the wrong.

Report the incident to the police!!! They assaulted you and were aggressive to you!!!

Would you have acted differently if it was a white car?

Sounds like there were loads of free pumps that you could have used and you were being purposefully annoying. I'm glad you got an earfull