Much more puzzling is why so many people don't seem to realize that most vehicles can be filled from either side of the pump! It only takes a little careful positioning if the filler cap is on the 'wrong' side of the pump.
I've frequently by-passed three or more vehicles - all queueing diligently to use the 'filler cap side' of the pump - by just pulling out that hose a little further. Astonishing, really.......
|
I've frequently by-passed three or more vehicles - all queueing diligently to use the 'filler cap side' of the pump - by just pulling out that hose a little further. Astonishing really.......
You are making the assumption that everyone is in as much of a rush as you are - some of us are happy to sit for 5 minutes to make our lives easier, less stressful. Remember the tortoise and the hare ;o)
|
some of us are happy to sit for 5 minutes to make our lives easier less stressful. Remember the tortoise and the hare ;o)
Whats so stressful about tugging the nozzle around to the 'other side' of the car? I make a habit of doing this, in my deluded world I'm sure I get slightly more for my money if the hose is straight!
|
>>Whats so stressful about tugging the nozzle around to the 'other side' of the car?................
Oh, theres the having to walk round the back of the car twice more then would otherwise be required ( a huge waste of energy and resources), then there is the stress of trying to keep the hose off of the back so as not to mark the dirty paintwork and make it look even more untidy. But the real deal killer is the fact of having to mind the aerial so being careful not to bend or break it. It is just far easier to wait for five minutes then having to go through all that hassle - my life can be stressful enough without having to go through all that for no reason.
;o)
|
- some of us are happy to sit for 5 minutes to make our lives easier less stressful. Remember the tortoise and the hare ;o)
Funny how people look at things differently! For me its far more stressful to sit in a queue and watch 2 or 3 other people faff and dither with filling their cars up. Whether I'm in a rush or not, its no fun sitting at a filling station longer than you have to, so I use the 'other side' quite regularly. ;o)
On the subject of overfilling, my Dad once filled up the Metro on a cold spring night, then I parked it outside school in hot sunshine the next day. When I got back to it, petrol was literally squirting out of the tank breather tube. I removed the filler cap and a good cupfull of petrol glugged out. If someone had dropped a fag end they may have got a bit of a surprise. When I got home I had to siphon some out..
|
|
|
>>Whats so stressful about tugging the nozzle around to the 'other side' of the car?................
>>
I suspect this is the response from a hatchback driver ;-)
and tugging all the hose out (that only just reaches..)
>>
>>... then there is the stress of trying to keep the hose off of the back so as not to mark the dirty paintwork and make it look even more untidy.
>>
And the stress on your back if you are not careful.
>>
I too am happy to wait at a pump on the easy side and smile as I watch all the other twitchy types topping up their stress levels..
|
|
|
|
|
My thoughts exactly, Pot. The 'queueing on the filler cap side' mentality often causes unnecessary congestion at filling stations. Add in incompetent till operators, people browsing for snacks/magazines, women fumbling in handbags/purses and it can send your blood pressure right off the scale :-)
|
|
Dragging the pipe across the rear of the car or boot is asking for trouble I remember my Father coming home with a long face when he had filled up and dropped the spout onto the boot, severely dented it and scraedch across the paintwork on his week old Rover V8. Perhaps thats why I have never done it. Regards Peter
|
T*sc* Extras and garages with M&S food outlets are a nightmare! Ignorant self-centred proles fill up their cars, leave them parked at the pump despite the availbility of other parking, and then drone round doing a full food shop which takes a long time!
|
|
Proles shop at M&S? In that case I shall take my custom elsewhere.
|
|
|
|
Slightly tangential - how many other people use a locking pin on the diesel nozzle so that they don't have to hold the trigger? (they are disabled on petrol nozzles).
I recently started inserting a 7-shaped piece of stiff wire into the hole in the nozzle and setting the locking latch. Then I can walk around the car with my hands in my pocket whistling and looking cool while everyone looks on in amazement. I stow the wire in the drain hole behind the filler flap.
|
|
Filling up beyond the first click increases the chance of spillage, if not on the forecourt then on the open road, which is something that gives motorbike riders the heebie-jeebies. As an ex-motorcyclist, I never do it. It's worse with diesel than petrol, of course, but even petrol doesn't evaporate instantly and is very slippery.
|
"many other people use a locking pin on the diesel nozzle so that they don't have to hold the trigger?"
We used to do this on the pumps, trouble was that the cut out did n't always cut out. We could also set the pump to deliver a set number of gallons - this would allow us to serve 2 or 3 customers at the same time. Touble was that some customers would order 6 galls and only have room for 5.5 .................
|
Re: queuing on the filler side.
When I used to drive sheds or company cars I'd fill on whichever side of the pump had the shortest queue or was free.
Now I sit there and wait for the filler side because I'm driving my own car which I value and don't want to risk the pipe touching my paintwork. That's the only reason I do it. Can't quite work out why people driving junk bother though.
|
My technique?
Pull up at Pump, Take out nozzle - Check its black. Look up display check it says diesel, Check nozzle is black. Squeeze handle and stop, check its black, Look up at display and check it says diesel.
Fill up to first click, wiggle nozzle a lot, pull it out carefully so no diesel spills out, check its black, Look up at display and check it says diesel.
If I ever move to a petrol car, its gonna get filled with diesel for sure.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
if you do be sure to tell us how you got the big bore diesel nozzle into the narrow bore petrol fuel filler.... :)
|
|
As a new driver (only been passed my test since April) and someone who knows nothing about cars, this has been a very enlightening thread :D
|
Pull up at Pump Take out nozzle - Check its black. Look up display check it says diesel Check nozzle is black. Squeeze handle and stop check its black Look up at display and check it says diesel. Fill up to first click wiggle nozzle a lot pull it out carefully so no diesel spills out check its black Look up at display and check it says diesel.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one whose that careful/paranoid!! :-)
----------------------------------------------
Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
|
I go whichever side has the shortest queue (even on a large Mondeo-sized car the hose will reach over the car), automatically reach for the green nozzle (that'll be handy when I buy a van!), fill up till it won't fill for longer than a second without clicking (hopefully without getting wet feet). Then I shake every last drop out, remember what number pump I'm at, and pay for it.
I'm always surprised by the people who say "erm.....the blue Passat over there love" to the kiosk staff, expecting them to see straight through a transit van to ascertain which pump the customer has used. Not hard to remember a number surely?!
|
|
Whenever possible I avoid the pump that's "straight ahead in" at the entrance; my regular garage is on a slight right hand bend immediately beyond a set of traffic lights at a T junction and I fully expect that sooner or later somebody filling up at the number 1 pump is going to get rammed...
|
Hooray! I'm not gaga after all!
Wish I cd say the same for you though TVM.
|
When I used to drive sheds I'd fill on whichever side of the pump had the shortest queue or was free. Can't quite work out why people driving junk bother though.
Eh? You tell us!
A car is a car is a car is someone's pride and joy.
|
|
em, it's a rover 214 - no pride, no joy - just cheap
|
If a car is already badly scratched/damaged then what difference will a pipe coming into contact with it make was my point.
Likewise my company cars which I mercilessly abused got the rough treatment as well. A pipe being dragged over them was the least of their worries. My favourite was to approach a speed bump at approx 50mph and see if I could 'get hang time'. Poor Vectra it never drove right after that......
|
|
|
|
|
SNIPQUOTEYou are making the assumption that everyone is in as much of a rush as you are - some of us are happy to sit for 5 minutes to make our lives easier less stressful. Remember the tortoise and the hare ;o)
Nor do we want to scratch the paint with the hose!
|
Nor do we want to scratch the paint with the hose!
Park closer than normal, eg. 12-18 inches from pump;
remove filler cap;
pick up pump nozzle as normal;
as you move across to the other side of the car, grab the fuel hoze with your other hand;
hold the hose away from car bodywork for the duration of filling up;
then replace nozzle as normal.
This also means you take the weight of the hose with your 'hose' hand giving free unburdened movement of your 'nozzle' hand..
(but if you can't drive within 12-18 inches of things without hitting them then give up at stage 1).
;o)
|
|
Sadly, Rich, a large proportion of drivers may well have to give up at that stage :-(
|
Take a look at the 'spacial awareness' topic, for sure many will give up at stage 1..... ;-)
Chris
|
|
You also get your hands covered in fuel which has spilt and run the full length of the hose - been there done that and it stinks!
|
You should get extra points for climbing up onto the pump island and scraping yr front wing/nearside doors on the pumps, and a super-bonus for running over a hose or tearing it out of the pump sideways with your car.
Jackpot if you start a fuel leak and distractedly light a cigarette.
|
|
'course it could be easily solved by learning to handbrake turn properly.....
|
|
so what IS the proper way to handbrake turn? ;)
|
so what IS the proper way to handbrake turn? ;)
Use someone else's car.
|
Here in Luton, when navigating the restriced access on the 2 Shell sites, I frequent, it is required that you...
Give clear access to the other 20 or so vehicles fighting to get to the front of the line. (Many with what would appear to be lacking in the most basic driving skills)
Choose the most awkward to get at pump island, so as to best avoid any of the aforementioned customers, hitting you/your vehicle.
Wear protective footwer, due to the diesel spills.
Even when filling with petrol, make use of supplied plastic gloves. Apart from the dirty hose, you might touch, I've no wish to handle a pump trigger, that so many others, with possibly lower hygine standards, may also have already done.
Click to the next full litre, to take advantage of the loyalty points, issued /litre.
& continue to anticipate the arrival of the new Shell credit card, to obtain the 3% reward, Armitage Shanks, is getting, before me, despite it being my post, advising of it, initially!!
VB
PS Yes, I've also got the Capital One card now - so 4% cashback on EVERYTHING for 3 months!!
|
Vansboy - I knew someone here had recommended this card some months ago and I am most grateful for the pointer. With my GE card I am only getting 3% on food and fuel and 0.5% on all other purchases. When I investigated getting a card for a friend and got the message, on their website, that applications for cards giving those discount rates were 'closed'. I don't quite understand the last sentence of your post - "& continue to anticipate the arrival of the new Shell credit card, to obtain the 3% reward, Armitage Shanks, is getting, before me, despite it being my post, advising of it, initially!!" Have I offended you in some way? I hope not!
|
Sorry - thought you had got the new Shell credit card before me!!
tinyurl.com/2h5qzm
'Till it comes, I'll happily have 4% from Capital One!
VB
VB for some reason your link was going to the TinyURL website, I've altered it for you ! - PU
|
vansboy thanks for that! Calm and peace are restored!
|
|
|
Much more puzzling is why so many people don't seem to realize that most vehiclescan be filled from either side of the pump! It only takes a little careful positioning if the filler cap is on the 'wrong' side of the pump. I've frequently by-passed three or more vehicles - all queueing diligently to use the 'filler cap side' of the pump - by just pulling out that hose a little further. Astonishing really.......
I usually fill up at the side which has the least cars.
One recent occasion I filled up on the opposite side and got too close to the kerb at the bottom of the pump. The kerb was about 8 - 10 inches high with a metal edging on the corner. The metal was actually broken and sticking out, as I said, I got too close - It ripped the side of my tire and instant deflation.
The spare went on as two pumps were taken out of action. After a short discussion with the store Manager (it was Tesco) he agreed to pay for a new tyre.
|
|
|
|
|
