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?

Completely normal. I do this all the time and no one has ever physically and verbally assaulted me for it.

I live in London though so maybe the forecourt etiquette is different? If there’s a pump going spare, you grab it and keep it moving.

No, she was supposed to either wait OR use one of the seven other pumps!
How is this so hard to understand?

They weren't blocked in.

You have absolutely breached petrol station etiquette. You were selfish and because you couldn’t wait, they then had to.

You were wrong.

I can't believe that someone who thinks it's safe to go against one-direction signs but not safe to extend a petrol hose, something that they are literally designed specifically to do, to reduce the chances of this exact issue, has the audacity to question other people's driving skills!

Dear god, will people read the posts? They weren't blocked in. They didn't have to wait.

Nor did she have to go in front of them so they had to reverse and go round. She could have either waited or gone to one of the other pumps. She just didn’t want to because she thought her preference trumped theirs.

Again, it goes without saying that they were unhinged. But OP was out of order.

It's out of order in your mind but not to a bunch of other people, for whom this is totally normal practice eg. Moving into the space next to a free petrol pump.

She wasn't blocking anyone in. Big deal, the lunatics had to spend one extra second reversing. I'm sure they spent longer than that ranting.

It’s been a while since anyone asked OP why she didn’t use one of the other pumps, is everyone okay?

BTW OP, if I need to use a pump on the wrong side, I pull up a bit further forward than usual and you don’t need to pull the hose up and over the car, the hose just goes around the back of your car, no faffing necessary.

All the peeps going on about a “breach of petrol station etiquette”. Where on earth is this coming from? In my many years of driving I have never seen such rules suggested by the stations themselves - in and out entrances yes, but no rules at all about manoeuvres into free lumps or not reversing.

Some on here are making up rules to suit what they believe imo. As you were OP, you didn’t do anything wrong.

Kindly point me towards the mythical petrol station etiquette rules that you just made up.

in truth, I hadn’t considered using the other pumps as I hadn’t thought what I did was going to be an issue, genuinely thought it was ‘normal’ hence me asking here. I had no idea that ppl would be annoyed by it

It has nothing to do with etiquette and everything to do with safety.

Yes you’re right, I hadn’t considered people who can’t drive very well and maybe he was nervous. I guess everyone just assumes everyone else is like them :) However, he did end up reversing and I drove out virtually behind them, so it was all a big hoo ha for nothing really.

Ok @BrokenWing - please point me to the petrol forecourt safety rules which say that OP shouldn’t have reversed into the free pump. I’ll wait.

This

Why is reversing unsafe?? Come on now.

It’s a subsection of the “don’t be a twat in life” code. Only those who aren’t twats know of it…

According to you @KittyPup - you seem to know a lot about twats, as well as unnecessary insults.

🤣🤣 This is great

From what the OP said they were blocked in at the front and would have had to reverse out. Which is dangerous at a petrol station, someone who works at one said down thread that she’s known there be a fatality due to this. People walk behind cars, etc when going to the kiosk. Plus the OP didn’t know that someone wasn’t going to come and wait behind the first car while she was filling up.

You were curious as to why some people were aware of the “mythical petrol station etiquette rules” and you weren’t. I thought I was being helpful and enlightening you as to why you may not have ever been privy to them. My apologies.

I hadn’t considered people who can’t drive very well

That might have been a successful insult to the couple that annoyed you, @HappyPinkHare - except that your inability/unwillingness to use the full length of the petrol pump hoses is just as much of an incompetence as their lack of confidence about reversing.

I agree

Yes it was annoying. You should have just waited but they overreacted.