Petrol stations with supermarkets....
Discussion
These things are becoming more and more popular around my part of London, useful for late night shopping I'm sure.
However, buying fuel is a bloody nightmare. People buy £15 worth of fuel and then pop in to do their weekly shop without moving their car from the pump. Even if they move the car, you then have to queue to pay for your fuel behind hoards of people with baskets, or even mini-trolleys full of food. Of course, while you are waiting to pay the queue for fuel is getting bigger and bigger outside.
Who's idea was this? I blame BP, they seem to be the cause of most of the worlds problems these days.....
Most annoying
apologies for the poor rant, just wanted to share my frustrations....
However, buying fuel is a bloody nightmare. People buy £15 worth of fuel and then pop in to do their weekly shop without moving their car from the pump. Even if they move the car, you then have to queue to pay for your fuel behind hoards of people with baskets, or even mini-trolleys full of food. Of course, while you are waiting to pay the queue for fuel is getting bigger and bigger outside.
Who's idea was this? I blame BP, they seem to be the cause of most of the worlds problems these days.....
Most annoying
apologies for the poor rant, just wanted to share my frustrations....
People who stop at the entrance to the petrol forecourt as they don't know which pump will free up 1st and don't want to goin the wrong queue.
Now rather than 10 cars being able to queue for fuel on the forecourt you have 1 car blocking the footpath, and a queue behind it down the road.
And should you dare drive around them and queue up! Ohhh they don't like that one little bit.
Now rather than 10 cars being able to queue for fuel on the forecourt you have 1 car blocking the footpath, and a queue behind it down the road.
And should you dare drive around them and queue up! Ohhh they don't like that one little bit.
They do need to fix that. Pay At Pump can help. There's one near my office which happens to be the most convenient place on the street to buy lunch, so it's very busy in lunch hour and anyone getting fuel ends up in a really long queue behind a bunch of pedestrians buying sandwiches (including me). Ironically, I don't get my petrol there because I know what the queues are like!
They're handy for a few odds and ends but after seeing the prices I won't be doing a weekly shop in one of these any time soon.
EDIT: Wow, I'd never have considered parking at a pump if I wasn't buying petrol. People really do that?!?
They're handy for a few odds and ends but after seeing the prices I won't be doing a weekly shop in one of these any time soon.
EDIT: Wow, I'd never have considered parking at a pump if I wasn't buying petrol. People really do that?!?
Edited by Alfanatic on Friday 23 July 12:52
Sunday evening seems to be the worst time for this - as experienced by myself at BP last week.
Most people weren't even buying fuel just the usual foodstuff. The queue for the checkout (2 of 3 open) stretched to the entrance of the store and was approx 10-15mins! Guy in front of me queued all that time just to buy 2 bars of chocolate!
Obviously all the time spent further delayed anyone waiting behind me at the pump (all parking spaces adjacent to the store were full.
Perhaps there should be a 'only fuel' checkout?
Most people weren't even buying fuel just the usual foodstuff. The queue for the checkout (2 of 3 open) stretched to the entrance of the store and was approx 10-15mins! Guy in front of me queued all that time just to buy 2 bars of chocolate!
Obviously all the time spent further delayed anyone waiting behind me at the pump (all parking spaces adjacent to the store were full.
Perhaps there should be a 'only fuel' checkout?
Dibber .... the answer there is no dedicated window is cos then after buying your fuel at a margain of around 1 % you'd never step inside and buy crisps, a mars bar and a coke which give profits over 25 % !
And if you're tempted by the hot food/ deli then the margain becomes 50 %.
I know, I owned a station here in Ireland for 10 years.
And before anyone cries thief, the running and staff costs were sky high so net profit was very small. Only the big oil company sites make big money as they control the fuel costs as well.
And if you're tempted by the hot food/ deli then the margain becomes 50 %.
I know, I owned a station here in Ireland for 10 years.
And before anyone cries thief, the running and staff costs were sky high so net profit was very small. Only the big oil company sites make big money as they control the fuel costs as well.
I got my registration number 'written down' and an earful from the security guard outside my local Shell/Mini Sainsburys garage a couple of years ago for moving my car forward a couple of metres from beside the pumps into one of their parking spaces before joining the massive queue of people paying for their weekly shop. The idea that I was trying to speed things up for the people waiting behind me was lost on him.
Terrible in my neck of the woods.
My local garage Esso has a nice Tesco Extra as part of it. The countless times I've had to get fuel and been in a line of cars back onto the road wasting a good 20 mins just to park up to refuel.
Hugely annoying - and another reason why I specifically bang on about the benefits of Diesel over petrol as for me it means fewer stops & much less wasted time.
I could go down the road to the next station but on average the "round trip" effect means its no quicker + its more pricy always. I hear the arguement why not fill up enroute/find a station and go in - well as I do a lot of miles I dont want to be refueling at anything more showing on the range than 30 miles. I dont stop en route as Im normally in a hurry to get there by a set time OR its vastly more pricy i.e. Motorway pumps.
So whats the solution? I'd love a really big fuel tank twice the size but for now I refuel say 550-600 miles on average which is great, I hear plenty here talking about 250mile max then refuel that would be a pain for me and easily say 1.5hrs a month waiting to fill up... no thanks.
My local garage Esso has a nice Tesco Extra as part of it. The countless times I've had to get fuel and been in a line of cars back onto the road wasting a good 20 mins just to park up to refuel.
Hugely annoying - and another reason why I specifically bang on about the benefits of Diesel over petrol as for me it means fewer stops & much less wasted time.
I could go down the road to the next station but on average the "round trip" effect means its no quicker + its more pricy always. I hear the arguement why not fill up enroute/find a station and go in - well as I do a lot of miles I dont want to be refueling at anything more showing on the range than 30 miles. I dont stop en route as Im normally in a hurry to get there by a set time OR its vastly more pricy i.e. Motorway pumps.
So whats the solution? I'd love a really big fuel tank twice the size but for now I refuel say 550-600 miles on average which is great, I hear plenty here talking about 250mile max then refuel that would be a pain for me and easily say 1.5hrs a month waiting to fill up... no thanks.
Accelebrate said:
I got my registration number 'written down' and an earful from the security guard outside my local Shell/Mini Sainsburys garage a couple of years ago for moving my car forward a couple of metres from beside the pumps into one of their parking spaces before joining the massive queue of people paying for their weekly shop. The idea that I was trying to speed things up for the people waiting behind me was lost on him.
I'm not 100% sure but I have a suspicion that your actions may have sounded off alarm bells inside the building and posted a big picture of your car on one of their CCTVs. Our local station seems to have some automated system that screams purposefully when it notices a car pulling away without paying. Of course you wouldn't know that, and you intended to pay, but the guard and so on probably got all excited at the prospect of catching a thief.Alfanatic said:
Accelebrate said:
I got my registration number 'written down' and an earful from the security guard outside my local Shell/Mini Sainsburys garage a couple of years ago for moving my car forward a couple of metres from beside the pumps into one of their parking spaces before joining the massive queue of people paying for their weekly shop. The idea that I was trying to speed things up for the people waiting behind me was lost on him.
I'm not 100% sure but I have a suspicion that your actions may have sounded off alarm bells inside the building and posted a big picture of your car on one of their CCTVs. Our local station seems to have some automated system that screams purposefully when it notices a car pulling away without paying. Of course you wouldn't know that, and you intended to pay, but the guard and so on probably got all excited at the prospect of catching a thief.Munter said:
People who stop at the entrance to the petrol forecourt as they don't know which pump will free up 1st and don't want to goin the wrong queue.
Now rather than 10 cars being able to queue for fuel on the forecourt you have 1 car blocking the footpath, and a queue behind it down the road.
And should you dare drive around them and queue up! Ohhh they don't like that one little bit.
+1.Now rather than 10 cars being able to queue for fuel on the forecourt you have 1 car blocking the footpath, and a queue behind it down the road.
And should you dare drive around them and queue up! Ohhh they don't like that one little bit.
s, without exception.Welshbeef said:
Alfanatic said:
Accelebrate said:
I got my registration number 'written down' and an earful from the security guard outside my local Shell/Mini Sainsburys garage a couple of years ago for moving my car forward a couple of metres from beside the pumps into one of their parking spaces before joining the massive queue of people paying for their weekly shop. The idea that I was trying to speed things up for the people waiting behind me was lost on him.
I'm not 100% sure but I have a suspicion that your actions may have sounded off alarm bells inside the building and posted a big picture of your car on one of their CCTVs. Our local station seems to have some automated system that screams purposefully when it notices a car pulling away without paying. Of course you wouldn't know that, and you intended to pay, but the guard and so on probably got all excited at the prospect of catching a thief.It was a BP I think with an M&S attached, I needed a couple of bits, but rather than be a PITA and leave my motor there I moved it to one of the 10 bays this station has, the security guard came flying out of his position, only to look a bit non-plussed when I walked in the store
He proceeded to give me a lecture in pigeon English about why I shouldn't move my car and wouldn't accept my explanation, I've never returned to that particular station, t
ts!Mermaid said:
In Germany, they move the car forward after filling up the car.
Here the idiots feel they own that real estate till they have to get away, and almost seem to take pride in taking as long as possible browsing magazines, weekly shopping, having a cup of coffee....
Or you get screamed at by the retarded till tugger who berates you for moving your car before paying for the fuel and remonstrates that "You were lucky I was just calling the Police to have you arrested for driving away without paying."Here the idiots feel they own that real estate till they have to get away, and almost seem to take pride in taking as long as possible browsing magazines, weekly shopping, having a cup of coffee....
"I moved to help speed up the queue of people waiting to use your pumps and there is nothing saying that I must not do that on your forecourt."
"You can't do that, don't ever do it again or I will call the police."
"Sigh, I live over 100 miles from here and can assure you that I will not be using this station again unless absolutely vital to me. Now if you have nothing further to add whilst the queue of people behind me who are now trying to pay increases in size here is £55 cash, put the change in the charity pot and I would refer you to the speculative answer discussed in the Pressdram V Arkell libel case."
"Euh?"
"Google it sweetheart, ta ta."
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