Safe Speed Forums

I couldn't beleive this. I was at a medium sized petrol station with 4 pumps arranged in a square, so 8 cars could fill up. I'm at the outside pump when this motorhome pulls in, it's a bit longer than a normal motohome that you see, but shorter that a winnebago and is towing a smart car on a trailer.

It would appear that the filler cap on the motorhome is on the left and the filler on the smart car is on the right, so what does this arsehole do? He parks diagonally right in the middle blocking 4 pumps, something like this..

The L is me at pump 2, C is other cars, the \ is this guy. He gets out and starts filling the smart car and his partner fills the motor home. There is, of course a queue of cars, most of which probably had fillers on the right hand side, waiting to get in.

I have never seen anyone do something so delibarately selfish. I can deal with stupid people but this was just unbelieveable.

They spent ages buying snacks and crap in the shop too.

Anyone seen worse?

Yep!
I worked in a filling station at Plantation Bridge on the A591.
Next door is an outdoor clothing shop.
Guy pulls up and fills his car, comes in to pay, then walks out and goes next door to the clothing store leaving his car in between the pumps!

Anybody ever paid for fuel from the wrong pump number, and then driven off without going back to say what you've done?

You wont believe the trouble that causes when the right person is asked to pay for a different pump!! - especially if it is a higher amount

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

That's pretty bad, at least park in the bit that most garages leave for people who are just buying snacks.

There is a BP&McDonalds sharing a building on the A12 near Mountnessing, Essex and they have huge signs saying not to park at the pump while using McDonalds, so I guess this is a common problem



I'm not aware of having done this, but if I ever have it would've been an honest mistake. This should get noticed in my case though as I have a fuel card with my reg number on it (however, I spent 3 weeks filling up a rental car with this card without thinking and never got pulled up on it once!)

Especially when some garages, especially BP, label the pumps with stickers on the side, one above the other , one positioned slightly further left than the other being the only indication as to which number applies to which side of the pump.

Nope but I have paid for the car behind me at a toll bridge, told the attendant that he was with me and I was paying, all I could see in the mirror was ensuing confusion when the driver tried to pay again insisting he didn't know me. Well it made I larf.

_________________
Former Military Police Officer and accident investigator

Muppet in Preston who parks up at pumps, goes to cash machine, then into shop, then fills up with petrol and then goes back to shop to pay for it....

Muppet!

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

Interesting post, this one, Lum! There are several ways that he might have achieved his goal which would have been worse. He could have made two passes, one for the motorhome and the other for the car. Each of the two passes would have caused less disruption, but the total might have been the same. Plus he would have had to go back around on the road system, causing a rumpus on the road pulling into and out of the gas station with his monster load several times.

Second, he could have manipulated his vehicle inside the garage forecourt, backing up into a different lane to gas up the smart car. Of course, this would mean that the other drivers would need to co-operate with him, and the solution is far less elegant and more difficult.

Third, he could have gassed up the smart car an another station further on up the road. This is quite an elegant solution – making use of two stations rather than two passes at one station. But it assumes that he could find an equally cheap gas station with a suitable configuration nearer his destination.

Wacky solutions also exist. While he was gassing up the motorhome, he could have taken the smart car off the trailer and drove it around to another pump! Or used a bottle to fill up the car one gallon at a time!

Considering how well it was planned and executed, perhaps you are being a little curmudgeonly calling him an arsehole – the job needed doing, and his solution seems elegant for the situation he was in, doesn’t it? I take it you didn’t call him an arsehole when you had the chance to do it to his face? Little communication was required with the other drivers – he admirably imposed his solution on them without a word, whether they liked it or not! He got his vehicles gassed up in the shortest time by allocating one person to each pump. Presumably, this was a cheap station with the exact configuration he needed to do the job. It is marvellous that the diagonal distance between the pumps matches the configuration of his tanks – perhaps the job was pre-planned?

At most stations, the petrol hose at any pump can reach to the opposite side of the car! I’ve often saved a bit time with that little piece of knowledge!

_________________
I stole this .sig

I’ve been a victim of much worse. Once, when returning home from Manchester to Munich after a channel ferry strike, I found that the lanes in both directions of all the roads in Calais were blocked by many thousands of British vehicles (who had been stuck for a week) trying to force their way from the continent into the French channel ports!

I managed to pick my way through by driving on the pavements, but at one point, I got stuck and an English swine wouldn’t move the 6 inches I needed to let me get to a clear stretch of road! Now that’s what I call selfish!

Luckily, I found a grass verge, which I drove across at high speed so as not to get bogged down..

_________________
I stole this .sig

This is the correct answer, he could have pulled forwards a bit, the hose would still have made it to the motorhome and the other one could have gone around the back of the smart. Of course you would have to have been there and know how far the hoses can go in order to determine that.

I don't deny his skill in positioning, but the above solution would have only used two pumps, for two vehicles rather than blocking in three pumps (and strangely, no-one wanted to ue pump 3 on my diagram either, probably fearing getting hit.

Also, the garage was at a motorway service station, with a layout something like this (not to scale)


So going around again would not have caused much disruption.

The pumps in question were the shiny new Gilbarco ones that BP tend to favour, the ones where the hoses disappear onto rollers.

Just wait , revenge is sweeter after a wait - one of these days -not too long now the way the jobcentre/dss/pensions folk are paying through banks - there'll be no money in cash machine and plonker will have to pay by switch - just pray that the modem line is out and his payment is over the floor limit - so he's got a stack of goods and petrol, but no way of paying for it.

Just love it when that happens .

Basenwerk - found that out years ago - most pumps if you park just right will reach to the average car cos most folk don't know the width of their car.

So many people put fuel on cards without the proper Reg.No. for genuine reasons like your self, it's not worth checking up.
You usually have a good idea who is genuine and who is shifty type with a dodgy excuse.
Most filling stations have a list of dodgy card numbers, and vehicle reg. numbers to watch out for, and the credit card companies give a reward for capturing a dodgy card! Given the low wages paid in most filling stations, it can make a big difference to your wages.

Used to work with the son of the boss I worked for.
He went into the local bakery, and told them his dad had a heart condition, and under NO circumstances were they to sell him cream cakes etc., in case he had a coronary off the premises... of course he was as fit as a fiddle!! We had such a laugh when the Boss came back from getting his snack, and reported the bakery had refused to serve him! --- All those BiB's here can use this at your local Doughnuts stop - just give them the number of your intended victim!!!

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I learnt not to be smug when doing this. The over-fill switch thingy in the pump nozzle doesn't always work as well if the pump handle is upside down, (which is often the way in this situation). Its hard to look cool in your suit when its covered in unleaded. Served me right.

Park closer or stand to one side when doing this

If you really want to piss people off who are queueing, try filling up a diesel car from an HGV pump (if there's truckers queueing then don't do this, but in my case all 3 HGV pumps were empty) not only do you get to jump the queue but they flow at about a litre a second. May not work on all cars but on the Bora I had, providing you held the nozzle at the correct angle and pressed it in, the overflow switch still worked correctly as you made a complete seal around the tapered bit of the filler nozzle)

Again, stand to one side when doing this, it took me two goes to get it right. Worth it to save standing out in the cold for ages though.

I'd be more concerned about the cost of the spillage - I havn't worn my suit for ages, and petrol smells better than the pound-shop cologne I use!

_________________
I stole this .sig

I know - I can smell it from here

cheers
Peter

Speaking of spillages, is SMOKING a cigarette on a garage forecourt classed as selfish?
When a call over the tannoy drew attention to the misdemeanour, the offender refused to put out his cigarette, until threatened with being sprayed with a fire extinguisher by another motorist who felt endangered!!

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

did nobody else think that the sensible thing for the motorhome muppet to do is fill the matchbox car up BEFORE attaching it to the motorhome? it is using fuel whilst on tow so why not fill it up before starting the journey? tosser

_________________
Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

Yes.

A bunch of Greenpeace numpties stood in the entrance to an Esso garage forecourt which is just after a bend on a wet day.

Nope but I have had numpty assistants charge me for the wrong pump then take 30 minutes sorting their own mess out.

The supervisor at my local Tesco filling station suspended all the pumps until a smoking individual put out his ciggy. Worked like a charm, faced with 5 or 6 other idividuals waiting to fill up the ignorant jerk thought better than to try and stubbornly continue

Am I missing something here? Surely if he'd filled it up earlier he'd have then had more weight on board to carry - cost of journey greater.

I actually applaud the move. I think it was likely pre planned.