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?

What you are describing is a free pump one ahead of a car already filling up.
So they were at pump 2 and you drove into pump 1.

Obviously when that car arrived, the pump in front was being used, so they parked behind it.

You drove forwards and reversed into pump 1.

That's fine but it sounds like you were so far forward that you were blocking the exit of other cars?

I don't quite understand that because there should be space for a car at a pump without blocking the exit of other cars.

In any case I don't think you were wrong but without a diagram it's hard to be sure.

YABU for only using "left sided" pumps.

They weren’t blocked in though, all they had to do was reverse and go out via the other, empty lane

And I think I will possible do this in future knowing that people are annoyed by other cars parking in front. Didn’t think it was a thing before today

I don’t think you did anything wrong and I have in fact done this myself on several occasions. However, I will also sometimes use a pump which is on the wrong side and stretch it over.

Your diagram shows that there is room for more than one car in each lane.
It's not a single lane for each pump.

No. I see this all the time, Except for the arguing bit. The person could be in bloody shopping and taking ages with 5 kids in the toilet, in no rush, and are you supposed to sit behind waiting for them? No you're not. So yeah, you are allowed use the one in front and they need to reverse out. I've seen this a 100 times and no arguments happened. I'd consider that woman a bit mental tbh.

OP could have just used one of the other free pumps.

They over-reacted but I would be pissed off if you did that to me. It is a one-way system. Not only did you breach it and make them wait longer, you refused to acknowledge this and insisted they also breach the one-way system as a 'solution'. You strike me as oddly controlling and impatient. How long have you driven in the UK, OP?

No there’s two cars in each lane. What I meant by single is it’s a single lane of traffic so you can’t over take (as there’s no room to do so) however, they could have reversed back and used the lane next to us to exit.

28 years. No points no accidents. I think it just shows how everyone’s opinions really differ on certain subjects

People reversing around garage forecourts is why it is much safer to leave your children in the car than take them with you to pay.

YABU

I live in rural France. Drivers stopping to chat and blocking the road is an everyday occurrence, that couple would be blowing a gasket here.
Why get so het up over 5 minutes delay?

The fact that it was an otherwise empty forecourt actually makes it worse, it's empty and a car drives all the way round and reverses in front of the only other car that's there! 😲
Can you imagine watching that back on the CCTV 😂😂
Honestly it would look like you'd done it specifically to annoy them.

Sooooo, playing devil's advocate, if it was 'pretty much empty' why did you go in front of her? Why didn't you go to another pump?

If people were not meant to reverse on forecourts, there would be lots of signs saying no reversing, stick to your lane etc, just like there are not to smoke or use mobile phones.

There are no such signs and there is no such etiquette. People are at liberty to use the pumps that are free, irrespective of the weird non-existent rules that people like the crazy woman make up.

Try reading the op’s thread.

Kinda what I was wondering....

???

I HAVE. And she makes it clear that other pumps were available, but she still pulled in front of this woman. So I am asking why she had to pull in front of this woman? I have read all the OP's posts now, and can see it's because she can only park on one side of the pump - the petrol pump side, which is ridiculous. They have cables long enough to pull over to the other side of the car.

All that said, the woman's reaction was batshit.

.

It sounds like different views on local unwritten rules, but you know what... I'd say YANBU because your part in this is an etiquette quibble, meanwhile they were shouting and jostling the petrol hose, which is really unpleasant behaviour. No need for it, and I bet you could have filled your tank and left the way clear in the time it took them to carry on like that.

It was the only left handed pump available. I did wait behind them at first but they were both out of their car, still filling, and empty things. so I drove down the empty lane and reversed in front of them (I didn’t think about using the right m-handed pumps at the time because I really didn’t think they’d be annoyed). It wasn’t busy so I reckoned, they could reverse a metre and leave the way I got in front. Hearing all the opposing opinions gives me an insight into what the ‘consensus’ is on whether what I did was out of order or not.

Tbh I think it's fine. It's stupid for an empty pump to just sit there. How long must they have had to wait, really? A couple of minutes at most to put your petrol in and pay. It's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of life.

Why couldn’t you use 5,6,7 or 8?

Because she "only uses left hand side pumps".🙄

I think that varies station to station.

it may be somewhat annoying, but it doesn't make it wrong.

I think it's nuanced & you just have to make a decision each time.

i won't (can't) fill up from the other side. I don't have full use of one arm & physically can't do it, but even prior to this I wouldn't have the fuel hose rubbing all over my car, I'd rather wait until there's a 'correct side' pump.

but honestly, she behaved atrociously. Not you! I'm surprised a staff member from the station didn't come up. The unhinged woman needed reporting acting like that!!