Thought i would share with you an e mail i sent Shell, still waiting for an official response!

"I have a query regarding fuel pumps and wonder what the answer is for the UK market?

When you go abroad to Europe, USA, the Far East and Australasia, if you go into a fuel station and put the fuel nozzle into your car, there is a little catch on the fuel pump nozzle that you can press in allowing you to move your hand away while the car fills up with fuel.

When the car is full, this catch disengages, and the handle is released and the car is full of fuel.

This seems a lot easier to use than the ones here where this catch is there, but for some reason it’s blocked with a screw and we cant use it

When you fill up in the UK, this catch has had a little screw put into the fuel pump handle to block the public from using this little lever – why?

Can these screws that stop these fuel pump catches be taken out so we can use this catch when we fill up the car – it saves squeezing the fuel handle when you fill up the car?

I look forward to hearing your views on this"

Any of you forumists know why Shell and others do this?

 

Health & Safety.

Think it stems from the fact that pumps have overflowed in the past, with disastrous consequences if lit


Could be wrong though!

 

It had never occurred to me that holding the trigger involved any effort at all - don't be so bl**dy lazy!





Pete

 

when i was a delivery driver the station i used had the catches so u could walk away while it filled up.

It was a Diesel pump though.

 

Not thinking especially of myself, what about old people, or those with arthritis and cant squeeze the trigger for a few mins to fill their cars up??

 

If they are old they won't be able to afford to put more than 30 secs of fuel in so it doesn't matter! And if they can't press the trigger they shouldn't be driving in the first place, bloody wrinklies ban 'em from the road.......
dave

 

You could use the catches about 10 years ago. There must of been something happen to make them disable them.

It couldn't of been that bad though, or they would have removed them in the rest of Europe as well.

 

...understanding as ever

 

Here's a tip, stick your fuel cap in the trigger. It has the same effect, and you don't have to worry about putting the cap anywhere.

 

Exactly, that's what I do. If car is almost empty I know it's about £50/£55 to fill so when it gets to £45 I remove cap and hold it from then on. Works for most pumps although some are too fast and keep clicking (which they do when you use your hand as well

 

I was told it was because someone drove off with the pipe still in and flowing caused damage and nicked the fuel so they all got removed

 

They could do with that system in the garage I used on Tuesday, the pump was working really slowly, I had to stand there for about 5 minutes holding the pump.

 

use a small split pin

All they have done is remove the small bar on the main handle assembly, usually the catch is still on the trigger handle.

Think it was as suggested H&S, probably a load of old bid's pulling the nozzle out before squeezing the trigger to re-set if not brim filling, hence a ‘petrol over old bid scenario’ (smells better than moth ***** and p!ss anyway )

 

I use my cap as well

 

What I would like to know is why do I have to fill my car with fuel and pay MORE for the pleasure??

In Spain I can get a nice little Spanish girl to fill the car for me. I just wind down the window, tell her what fuel I want and how much, and she puts it in.

It's an auto-fill pump, so she pushes a few buttons and off it goes. While it is filling, she gets out the squeegee and cleans all the bugs and crud off my windsheild.

When done, I pay her, she gives me my change, and off I drive.

On occasions I encounter a filling station with an old man tending the pumps. The service is the same, if a little more grumpy, and the odd one didn't seem to concerned about smoking whilst on the job

Now, don't get me wrong I don't mind filling up the car myself. BUT I pay more for fuel in the UK and get less service for it.

 

I believe it's for Health and Safety reasons, mainly because there is a lot of vaour around the nozzle when you're filling up (you can see it). If you were to walk away and return there could well be a static discharge between your hand and the nozzle, enough to ignite the vapour. Therefore it is best to stay at the nozzle, holding onto it so that both the nozzle and your body are at equipotential.

 

hahhah some funny posts on here.

i must admit, that filling a car up is tedious and boring.

perhaps some music or plasma screens dotted around would be good.

as for old people, blimey, most of them cant even get the shop door open, and then they faff about checking mirrors, seatbelt, indicating, air vents adjustments, check the clock, before moving on, at which point my intake is pulling in just fumes left in the tank!!!

only kidding!!!

Dazza

 

Inside Edition Reveals Women Are More Likely To Be Injured In Gas Pump Fires Caused By Static Electricity

http://www.insideedition.com/inside_...aspx?storyid=7

TIPs from the above link:
If a gas pump fire occurs - DO NOT pull the nozzle out. Get away and tell the attendant to turn off the pumps.
Avoid getting back into your car while gas is pumping.
Experts say, if you must go back into your car once you've started refueling, make sure you discharge any static by touching another metal object before going near the gas nozzle.
----


So, jamming the trigger 'on' and walking away is not big or clever.

 

It's a very British thing to ignite the petrol pump and your car at the same time with static electricity! It could never happen in an other country but Britain! Most things are second rate in this country, including no little catches on fuel pumps, (the catches are for convenience, obviously), exactly the same scenario as not having twin scroll turbo, equal length headers, HID headlamp Impreza's in this country. Is that due to some beaurocratic 'health & safety' reason also?

 

Nope, that's because we'll accept sub-standard and pay more for it too!

 

Don't know whether it is H&S led or not, but the locking triggers are illegal in UK.
I do remember diesel's pumps for lorries having the locking trigger, but never on petrol pumps - whether they are except - putting in 300 litres must be a pain having to hold the trigger.

A friend came up with a great idea about 15 years ago - to produce a key ring with the clip thing on it, to fit the pump handle and make it stay on. He went to patent it and was told not to bother because they were illegal !!

 

use you're petrol cap, that works

 

Page 53 (section 8.5.22)

http://www.westyorksfire.gov.uk/new/...mplete2006.pdf

"Trigger latching mechanisms are acceptable on petrol pump nozzles operated by an attendant. However, site operators should be aware that latched nozzles have been implicated in a number of forecourt fires. Static charge is able to build up on users if they let go of the earthed nozzle during dispensing and this can subsequently cause an incendive discharge when they make contact with the nozzle again to complete the transaction. Where trigger-latching mechanisms are installed the site operator should ensure that attendants are provided with, and wear, appropriate anti-static footwear whilst carrying out dispensing operations. "

 

Also, what could stop some chav going up to the pump, dispensing fuel, engaging trigger lock and ******* off leaving it dispense all over the fore court. Fire hazard?? me thinks so.

 

Diesel pumps for trucks still have it, i guess diesel isn't a danger with static, but when ever I fill the race truck up at motorway services they have the mechanism still on, otherwise at £140 a tank you get wrist ache pretty quick

 

Hopefully he will be caught and made to go back and clean it up... upon picking the nozzle back up he will discharge static through his body (from running in his chav shell suit) and burst into flames. 1 down, next?

 

Hey that ain't the dark haired beauty who works at the service station in punta prima,I managed to miff her by trying to put my own fuel in the first time I used the station but she understood because I'm english.