Local Petrol Station has gone Pre-Pay due to Cloned plates

[bus_ter]

My closest petrol station is now pre-pay only.

It's slightly amusing, because they're constantly on the tannoy system telling customers trying to fill their cars to pre-pay first (despite signs on the front of the pumps stating this).
I've not seen this before in the UK, and I wonder if it's becoming common now?

They tell me it's because cars with cloned/faked plates are buying fuel and driving off. It got to the point it was almost a daily occurrence so they had no choice but to turn off the pumps. They say the police are not interested -at all. They have videos of the cars arriving and driving off, and they don't even want to see them.

It makes me wonder. You do 35 in a 30 with a legal insured car you get done bang to rights. Fine and points on your license. But drive with a cloned plate, steal fuel, presumably don't bother with insurance etc and you'll probably get away with it. As a bonus you're also immune to speeding tickets.
Who are the real suckers here?

[Super Sonic]

Had this one time in a petrol station in Manchester. Needed a full tank to drive back to the south coast.

[ScoobyChris]

bus_ter said:

It makes me wonder. You do 35 in a 30 with a legal insured car you get done bang to rights. Fine and points on your license. But drive with a cloned plate, steal fuel, presumably don't bother with insurance etc and you'll probably get away with it. As a bonus you're also immune to speeding tickets.
Who are the real suckers here?

Nothing stopping you running cloned plates

I've only encountered the pre-pay fill-ups in the US and always found it a pain because I want a full tank and not £50 of fuel. Not sure what happens if you pay for more than will go in the tank!

Chris

[Mandat]

ScoobyChris said:

I've only encountered the pre-pay fill-ups in the US and always found it a pain because I want a full tank and not £50 of fuel. Not sure what happens if you pay for more than will go in the tank!

I frequently drive in the US and pre-paying is not as convenient as we are used to at home.

If you are paying by card, then your card is swiped at the till before you start filling up, and then you go back to the till afterwards to complete the transaction.

With cash payments, it's just a case of handing over a $100 bill first, filling up to whatever price you need (up to $100 obviously), and then going back to the till to collect your change.

[Cold]

Tell your local petrol station to get with the times and instal pay at pump machines - like the rest of the civilised world.

[bus_ter]

ScoobyChris said:

Nothing stopping you running cloned plates

I don't have the balls as a law abiding citizen, or a suitably common enough car to blend in with a cloned plate.

I do wonder how many cloned cars are out there, and what percentage of them ever get caught. I suspect the numbers are higher than we would guess, and the prosecution rate very small.

ScoobyChris said:

I've only encountered the pre-pay fill-ups in the US and always found it a pain because I want a full tank and not £50 of fuel. Not sure what happens if you pay for more than will go in the tank!
Chris

This is exactly why I've started avoiding it. I don't want to gamble with how much fuel it will take. I just want to fill and go.

[bus_ter]

Cold said:

Tell your local petrol station to get with the times and instal pay at pump machines - like the rest of the civilised world.

It's a 'Harvest Energy' station. I think they're pretty uncommon. It was only built a few years ago too. I guess they regret now not going for Pay at Pump.

[markymarkthree]

Mandat said:

If you are paying by card, then your card is swiped at the till before you start filling up, and then you go back to the till afterwards to complete the transaction.

Welcome to the world of lorry drivers in the UK. We have been having to do this for many years. Its no problem.

[ScoobyChris]

Mandat said:

If you are paying by card, then your card is swiped at the till before you start filling up, and then you go back to the till afterwards to complete the transaction.

This was pay at pump where you put the card in and then set the amount of $ of fuel to dispense. I had a rough guess and managed to fill the car to the 3/4 mark. Maybe with practice I'd be more accurate

Chris

[Altitude]

bus_ter said:

It makes me wonder. You do 35 in a 30 with a legal insured car you get done bang to rights. Fine and points on your license. But drive with a cloned plate, steal fuel, presumably don't bother with insurance etc and you'll probably get away with it. As a bonus you're also immune to speeding tickets.
Who are the real suckers here?

I'd probably just go to a different station if I found it annoying.

On a side note, you can do 35 in a 30 loads of places and get away scot free. It's only illegal when the police are there, same as stealing fuel in a cloned car. Only illegal if you get caught.

It's the same moan really every year with a lot of stations wanting bikers to either pre pay or take helmets off, It's not a massive inconvenience but does sometimes annoy!

[The Gauge]

Altitude said:

It's the same moan really every year with a lot of stations wanting bikers to either pre pay or take helmets off, It's not a massive inconvenience but does sometimes annoy!

I've never understood why some motorbikes hate removing their helmets at the pump. For me I welcome the opportunity to get my helmet and gloves off.

[markymarkthree]

The Gauge said:

I've never understood why some motorbikes hate removing their helmets at the pump. For me I welcome the opportunity to get my helmet and gloves off.

I have never understood why some petrol stations want me to remove my open-faced helmet ? yet are quite happy when someone pulls up with some material thing covering or partially covering their face.

[paul.deitch]

Pay at pump is a retrofit option.

[TheK1981]

Had this at a petrol station in Manchester in 2012 when there for the Stone Roses, had to pay up front, caused a bit of hassle, but they had a sign saying that they were losing about £500 a week in non payment.

The US felt odd paying up front, but the forecourt was big enough and had 2 tills open that you didnt get blocked in and there was no queue, probably quicker than it would take to fill up at home

[bimsb6]

Cold said:

Tell your local petrol station to get with the times and instal pay at pump machines - like the rest of the civilised world.

They won’t do it as they want sell you some bread/milk sweets etc

[E-bmw]

Altitude said:

On a side note, you can do 35 in a 30 loads of places and get away scot free. It's only illegal when the police are there, same as stealing fuel in a cloned car. Only illegal if you get caught.

Really?

[E-bmw]

paul.deitch said:

Pay at pump is a very expensive retrofit option.

FTFY.

I think it is somewhere in the region of tens of thousands for a small forecourt.

It takes a long time to recoup that in a small forecourt.

[Sheepshanks]

bus_ter said:

They tell me it's because cars with cloned/faked plates are buying fuel and driving off. It got to the point it was almost a daily occurrence so they had no choice but to turn off the pumps. They say the police are not interested -at all. They have videos of the cars arriving and driving off, and they don't even want to see them.

I suppose there's no point if the plate is false?

[Mr Tidy]

I've never encountered it in the UK before, but I can see why it would at least prevent people not bothering to pay. Although I'm not sure what cloned plates have to do with it.

Having said that since my local Tesco was only accepting Pay at Pump in 2020 I've carried on doing that. It means you don't get stuck in a queue behind someone who's doing their weekly shop in the kiosk!

[vaud]

Cold said:

Tell your local petrol station to get with the times and instal pay at pump machines - like the rest of the civilised world.

Deters motorists from going in to buy high margin food/drink items.