garage fuel pump adds 1p every time-Who can i tell?

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

Lol, tremendous wind-up...love it!!!!

Surprised there haven't been more ranters on here.

I stopped using my local asda due to exactly the same problem

KierNet

Forgot to add, due to the .9p (no idea why!), it rounds it up, however the pumps give more than they say, so your still getting more than you think.

I had to do a pump test a few weeks ago, we put 20 liters (as indicated by the pump) into a measuring tin, it was reading 20.1 liters on the tin.

buel

Hintza,
I kept going back to make sure it wasn't my mistake. It wasn't.
And to those of you who say to vote with me feet, i will but i am actually doing something about it, not just complaining and leaving.I rand Trading Standards today, they are going to test it and consult the manager.
Job done.

Thank you to all the very helpful posters!!

withabix

But wait....the density of petrol varies by approx 0.1% per degree centigrade temperature change.

What if the garage keeps his tank warm.....;)

mo786uk

Forecourt Fuel Dispensers ‘Running up a Penny’

The Problem

We sometimes receive complaints from motorists buying petrol, who find that on replacing the nozzle in the pump after filling up, the price indicator ‘runs on’ by an additional 1p. The complaint is usually that “I dispensed £10 precisely, yet the indicator ran on to display £10.01 when I replaced the dispenser nozzle”.
The most likely reason for the problem

Measurement of fuel in a petrol pump involves the pumped fuel causing a ‘pulser’ to rotate and send a signal to a processor (computer). The customer display shows the quantity delivered and the price as calculated by the computer.
Because the price of petrol is now so high, a very small movement in the pulser can be enough to trip the price indication by a penny. In reality, this represents only a very small quantity of petrol – about a teaspoonful in fact. The running on can be caused by simply just passing the precise quantity through normal delivery, or when the nozzle is replaced, the internal volume of the hose can change due to internal pressure forcing more fuel into the hose. This effect is called ‘hose dilation’ and is simply the hose swelling slightly. The error in such cases, if any, is very minor and well inside the permitted pump error tolerances of -0.5% to +1.0%.
Before a pump can be put into use in the UK, it must be granted a Certificate of Approval issued by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory. Part of the Laboratory’s approval process is that they must be satisfied with the method of price computation.
The solution

As long as the price of fuel remains high, this ‘running on’ phenomenon will continue to occur from time to time. There is no cure for the problem, but it may be some reassurance to know that as a customer you are not receiving short measure.
Some garages now have ‘penny boxes’ on the counter where some customers place the odd pennies when their transactions have ‘run on’ and that other customers, who are confrontational about the extra penny, take a penny out. This has been found useful in avoiding problems.

Blobby8_2

A thread about a penny, I thought I was tight ! (I am)

asbokid

mo786uk wrote: »

Because the price of petrol is now so high, a very small movement in the pulser can be enough to trip the price indication by a penny. In reality, this represents only a very small quantity of petrol – about a teaspoonful in fact.

A teaspoonful (of petrol) measures 1/138 of a litre? Can't be true.

1p must buy at least a nice big tablespoonful.

EDIT: a teaspoonful is actually 4.92892159 millilitres.

So 1p buys nearly two teaspoonsful of petrol (or ~10ml).

If a litre of petrol will get me 7 miles, then one penny's worth of petrol will get me 90 yards.

I just knew they were trying to cheat me there.

Blobby8_2

Conversely while someone argues the toss over 1p for two minutes, they effectively value their time at 30p/hour.

Flyboy152

sabz3008 wrote: »

1000 customers - that's £10

they're killing it

A busy petrol station could have a thousand customers a day, that works out to be a lot of pennies a week.

halibut2209

OP, you should film the pump in question as evidence