Am i just alone or is there other people who get annoyed when they arrive at a petrol station only to have to queue up to use a pump, when people in the queue are waiting to use a pump just because the petrol cap is on that side when others are free?
Do they not realise that the petrol pump reaches both sides of a car?
I was at the garage last night and had to queue up on the road outside just because people had blocked the entrance when there were pumps free but people weren\'t using then just because of the side of the car in which there caps are.
Does this annoy anyone else i was wondering?
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Does the petrol pump reach both sides of the car? I am a skilled enough driver (not that you have to be very good to do this) to park 2" from the kerb with the back of my car aligned to the pump I want to use, and often the pump inexplicably doesn't reach.
As a result, I do queue in the situation you've described above, because if I go ahead and find out whether or not the pump will reach I'm blocking up the space for someone who could use the space until the car in front has gone and then have to rejoin the queue at the back.
It's annoying, but I blame the petrol companies more than the drivers, unless of course there is some reason why longer pumps are more dangerous than others.
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I agree with DavidHM.
Plus trying to drag the hose from one side of the car to the other leaning over the boot lid of a saloon without scoring the paint with the hose is not easy. Then to find it does not reach HMMMM.
Risks to your back etc. hence I will queue.
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I agree with David and Henry. Pump hoses seem to have got shorter in recent years. I recently pulled into a Tesco fuel station in a hired Focus with the pump on the 'wrong' side - I obviously didn't park it with the necessary skill as I ended up having to move to another pump!!
The hoses could do with being about 12 to 18 inches longer IMO.
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No excuses in a Focus cos mine has a pump symbol on the fuel gauge indicating which side the filler cap is.
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This is weird. I drive up to the nearest empty spot regardless of filler position and fill up, never even think about the hose not reaching and it always does. Doesn't scrape on the car either because they are supported high up at the pump end.
Agree this might not work with some people carriers and 4WDs.
Must make a point of looking next time to see why others don't get on with this.
MM
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I'm with Mr Right on this one. Except that I don't want everyone else to know that pumps do reach to the far side of cars. If they do suddenly realise, I won't be able to jump several people in the queue, who very kindly leave a pump free just for me to use!
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All I agree with your points, but as ive found out both driving small and medium cars that skill doesnt really come into it, ive managed each time ive been to insert the hose into me petrol cap and deliver the petrol with out having to get back into me motor and moving it agian and again!!!
I agree with the point of 4x4 and such vehicles possibly not reaching but i dont think petrol firms are that stupid im sure they will reach all sorts of vehicles. They do strech a bit its not as if its ging to explode on you or anything.
People should give it a try and let us know how it goes with the different sorts of cars!!!!!!!
I like your response Hairy Hat Man that is very good i shouldnt of said anything but neva mind.
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Mr R
Point of interest, both Tesco and Sainsbury pumps reach the far side of my Grand Cherokee. Esso is more of a stretch but does do it. So I'm with you.
Funny though, SWMBO had Sainsburys cut her pump and tell her to move to a pump on the filler side of her car a week or so back even though she was filling up quite happily - and thats a little Berlingo!
Not so many years ago the hoses retracted into the pump on a spring-loaded device. That seems to have been withdrawn (no pun intended) - I wonder why?
Terry
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The angle of the petrol filler pipe in the car also affects matters. My current car is ok, but the Rover 820 I used to have (is he mad?) meant that you had to put the nozzle in upside down in order to fill it without the auto shutoff stopping every 2 seconds. Meant I got quite good at listening for the tell-tale gurgle of fuel telling me I was about to get wet feet!
O
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With you on this MM, if there is a space on the "correct" side then that is first choice naturally. If not then just go on the other side and drive a little past the pump. Hold the line clear of the tailgate, never had a failure.
What I find worse are those do-it-yourself jet wash machines which umpteen metres of hose flapping about when you get a bit of a wiggle on. Stopped using them for that very reason.
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Mr Right,
my query is slightly off message for this thread but it is connected...
Who decides which side the filler cap is on?
Does it depend where ther car was designed or built?
Or is it just an asthetic thing?
I used to work on a filling station, not self service, I was the grubby Oik who put a Pounds worth in for you (around 3 gallons in 1970-72.
I used to like trying to find the hidden filler caps behind reflectors or number plates or even under the bonnet on some small Fiats.
John R
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I used to work on a filling station, not self service, I was the grubby Oik who put a Pounds worth in for you (around 3 gallons in 1970-72.
Don't forget the four (free) shots.
I used to like trying to find the hidden filler caps behind reflectors or number plates or even under the bonnet on some small Fiats.
Hillman Imp was another sneaky one!
Terry
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Always works for me, but then motorbikes never have this sort of problem.
You know it makes sense.
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Know the problem.
I've always figured it was that they made them shorter than a car width/just longer so you couldn't stretch it so far a dozy driver could drive through the "gap"! We've all seen that Nova driving fast through the gap for the 12 year old passenger to buy a pack of fags haven't we?
P.S Apologies to the post-pubescent Nova driver (I saw you once I think)
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My filling cap is on the right rear. I don't count but it seems every time I go into a filling station there are people with right hand filling caps waiting to get to a pump. I generally go straight to a pump and easily pass the filling tube over the rear of the car. This never fails, I don't have to park especially close and the tube doesn't even touch the car let alone scratch it.
I have often wondered if more cars have filling caps on the right than on the left or if the nice people are just keeping a pump free for me?
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Who decides which side the filler cap is on? Does it depend where ther car was designed or built? Or is it just an asthetic thing?
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=99...0
Plus more to read on filler caps.
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Am i just alone or is there other people who get annoyed when they arrive at a petrol station only to have to queue up to use a pump, when people in the queue are waiting to use a pump just because the petrol cap is on that side when others are free? Does this annoy anyone else i was wondering?
I am a self-confessed queuer whom Mr Right will obviously not be inviting out for some beers.
Go and have a few beers anyway Mr Right, this sort of thing doesn't really matter, now, does it?
Splodgeface
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I thought the fill side was designed to be kerb side in the native market - pull up at the side of the road and fill..
Continental European and American cars "wrong side",
UK and Japanese "correct side" for UK.
And yes, it's nice to have a small car you can fill from either side :-)
Regards
ALT John H
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US Ford gas caps are on the LH side, and the dash display sports a handy little arrow to remind you.
No problem over here. Drive in any gas station and at least a couple of smartly uniformed boys or girls dash out to direct you to "their" pump (they get commission). They all know which vehicle tanks up which side so they make sure you pull in to the right pump. One lad or laddess will tank you up, another will wash your windshield and if asked another will bring a portable compressed air cylinder on wheels and do your tires. The tanker-upper will always direct your attention to the pump gauge and call "zero-zero sir!!" before he starts so you know you aren't paying for the last guy's tankful as well (they love to pull that one in Iran, where they think you can't read the Farsi script and numbers).
Asia.......
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Personally I would be too embarrassed to even attempt to fill up from the 'wrong side', because the thought of failing, and having to manouvre out and queue up again elsewhere, with observers laughing at me, does not fill me with great confidence.
HF
PS Splodgeface - I know what you mean, but normal life has to go on, doesn't it.
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HF - what's normal? I think the great thing about this site is that so many people's opinions are poles apart. Its fun to read just for that.
My problem with queuing is that my wife's car has its filler cap on the opposite side to my own. I often end up filling up both cars because I like nipping around town in hers. When I get to the station forecourt, I spend a considerable moment dithering, working out which queue I ought to be joining. Now there's something for Mr Right to get cheesed off with!
splodgeface
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Interesting thread - in 20 years of car ownership I've always used any available pump and never had a problem. I've always assumed people who don't are not using the grey matter! Just like those people who fill up at the back pump when the front pump is free, giving everyone else more grief and hassle! Or the people who decide to do their weekly shop in the filling station before paying for their petrol! Life's too short though to get worked up about these little foibles!
Baz
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I think the people who use the back pump have done so because someone was on the front and has then driven away, although it would be good practise to wait a short while for said person to drive away, and then one can use the front pump.
I too, have always used the pump from any side. I just love the looks on peoples faces when I do it.
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