Petrol price shown on pump is different to price at pay booth

scooby75

gabbyevs wrote: »

how can it be legal and why doesnt it happen at every station then?

never happened to me

Pumps have to be designed to a specific standard or "pattern". They have to be tested to this pattern and approved before they are allowed to be used. If the pump meets the criteria, then EU regulations allow it to be used.

A petrol pump uses a flow meter which is basically a rotor. As fuel passes through it, the motor turns, and each turn or part of a turn will represent x amount of petrol. The number of turns is counted and this is used to calculate the cost of the fuel used.

They are not infallible which is why you get errors and these are taken into account in the design and subsequent approval. Temperature differences can cause errors (though more fuel pumps now compensate for this) for example, and ebb and flow of fuel still in the hose and chamber can cause slight movement of the meter, including replacing the hose, wiggling it etc etc. There is little way of getting round it. The reason why it doesn't happen all the time is because it is not designed to actually do this, it just so happens that it does happen, though not all the time.

The chances are that you are actually getting slightly more fuel than you are paying for. When they are tested, they are usually set to give slightly more fuel than indicated so as not to give to little.

agrinnall

I would say to them that either they accept payment for the amount that was displayed on the pump or they can remove their petrol from my car.

I have to say this has never happened to me in thousands of refuellings over 35 years of driving, but I don't use ASDA very often as I don't like the drive through payment system.

robbies_gal

thanks for explaining it but i still dont understand how its legal to charge an amount over wot is displayed-i wouldnt pay it

KierNet

gabbyevs wrote: »

thanks for explaining it but i still dont understand how its legal to charge an amount over wot is displayed-i wouldnt pay it

You get the fuel at the end of the day. The pumps give out more than they say. Our pumps say 20 litres, but give out 20.1 litres. You're not complaining about that are you?

Its a penny at the end of the day, I'm not fussed if someone says they aren't paying it. Enough people leave their change during the day to make up for all of them.

iolanthe07

Many service stations have a little tray by the till with a few coppers in it for a slight over or underpayment. It amazes me that anyone could get worked up about one penny! For heaven's sake, get a life.

scooby75

Was there any need for that? I'm getting fed up of seeing posts on this forum from people who simply want to have a go at someone else because they disagree with someone's viewpoint. It's childish, pathetic and completely unnecessary.

It's a perfectly legitimate questions that has been asked, and it has been answered. There are quite a lot of complaints about the situation mentioned as people don't understand how it happens.