petrol forecourts to adopt the use of stingers?

spaceman5

just seen on the box, that some petrol forecourts are going to start a trial of using the stingers that the police use to bring a veichcle to a halt, to stop people driving off without paying for there fuel, apparantly if people attempt a drive off, then a stinger will pop up out of the ground as the offending veichle is trying to exit, meaning they wont get very far, do you think this is a good idea?, i personally cant see the problem with us adopting a policy like in the states, where you pay for your fuel before you fill up, surely this woulod be easier and cheaper to adopt, because if every forecourt adopted this stinger approach, surely the companies would want to pass on the cost to us the consumers.

EDIT: here is a link to the story

Keith

If used, isn't it Criminal Damage.

"Criminal Damage requires proof that the defendant intentionally damaged property belonging to another"

He stole from me so I damaged his vehicle. Good luck with that

Conor_3

Indeed. I've had "senior" moments in the past where I've driven off without paying simply because I've had my mind on other things and have only realised when I've looked in my wallet and seen more money in there than I thought there should have been or plod has turned up at the house and I've sheepishly pottered off back to the petrol station. Typically though, it's been a tenners worth or so and not a full tank so it's obvious to those with sense that its a genuine error.

vikingaero

They're going to trust a bored £5.52 clerk to deploy that thing?! I can see loads of innocent motorists getting caught out......... "Oh I thought Pump 2 hadn't paid when it was Pump 1 that drove off."

bargepole

As if they weren't "stinging" us already with the price of the fuel ...

I can see two major problems with this:

1) As someone said, there are bound to be mistakes, and some innocent person will get their tyres ruined. A prosecution against the oil company / garage owner for criminal damage, and consequent compensation, will make them think again.

2) When one of these is deployed, and a car is stopped, it will block the exit from the forecourt, causing angry scenes from those trapped behind the stinger. "Trapped Motorists Trash Petrol Station" is not a headline we want to see.

iolanthe07

I agree with Spaceman - just pay before you pump, like they do in the States.

Biggles

Seems a hell of a penalty for being absent-minded.

I filled up my tank dozens of times in the US, and only had to pay beforehand once (made us wonder if we'd wandered into some particularly dodgy area!).

anewman

Pay before you pump sounds the best idea. You won't get people without enough money to pay as well then. Do they propose to put these front and rear., you could simply reverse out.

You can just see it now as well, "petrol customer spiked and injured as they walked across forecourt."

Miseryschild

Only problem I see with the 'pay before you pump' is you might not know how much you need.

Sometimes if i've been driving a while I want to fill it back up full but how do I know how much that will be with the cost of fuel always increasing (near me its 124.9p per litre of diesel! - up from around 94.9p a litre in May 07).

Bilking (police term for people who drive off without paying for fuel) isn't that much of a problem is it?


~MC

whatamess_2

I work in a local petrol station sometimes, the rate of drive offs is shocking. Not many of them are by accident either.

When the profit on fuel is peanuts (£2.00 off a £250.00 sale, rough figures) several drive offs can seriously hit profits.

in2deep_2

anewman wrote: »

You can just see it now as well, "petrol customer spiked and injured as they walked across forecourt."

I was thinking the same thing, how can this be legal in a public place there not just barriers there spikes, there will be hell in court if a person falls on one of these and gets a spike in the head and dies.