[dorlomin]

I hardly ever drive a car but I do own one. Went to a local Tesco Petrol station and it has a 30 liter maximum on the amount you can buy. This is very odd and I have never come across it before. Reading the sign my guess is that it was a sort of anti crime measure rather than lack of supply. Petrol now retails at £1.08 per liter. The forcourt claimed it had license recognition software so I cant really imagine that drive offs are such a problem that they risk annoying customers to use other retailers to cut a drive off from £40 to £30 or something.

Curious stuff, is this common anywhere else?

Oh the station was in London so there are loads of other stations nearby competing for business.

[PrestonSturges]

During the US credit crunch, there were weird things going on with max/min prices on credit card purchases at the gas pumps.

[Tyler_JC]

During the US credit crunch, there were weird things going on with max/min prices on credit card purchases at the gas pumps.

It's an anti-theft mechanism and has nothing to do with supply.

Gas stations generally cut you off at $75 (but don't quote me on that). That limits liability for the gas station owner if it turns out "your" credit card is actually Mr. Smith's credit card.

When gasoline hit $4/gallon, more people started hitting this $75 limit but it wasn't supply related.

[dorlomin]

At $4 a gallon that would be 81 liters. 30 liters is only about 3/4 of a tank for a small 1400cc engined car. You basicaly will need to go to another garage if you intend to fill up.

[Golgo13]

So what do they do if you walk up with a couple empty portable petrol containers and want 30 liters?

[perdition79]

I have to ask on behalf of my fellow Americans: how does getting fuel work in the U.K.? Do you have to swipe your driver license at the pump? Are you required to pay with credit/debit cards? Can you pay with cash? It would help understand the method of rationing.

Just in case you're curious, here in the U.S., we can just slap down a wad of cash, tell the clerk "pump 8" and get busy pumping gas. Those who use credit/debit have to input a zip code (postal code) of the billing address on that card.

[janeword]

Even in small town USA, I go to the gas station, run my debit card in the slot at the pump, after having swiped my store card to get my discount, and fill up. I get a seniors discount at the grocery supermarket on the first Wednesday, and then with my food purchases get 10 cent per gallon discount on gas. I try to limit my driving so usually get gas on senior days, about 7 or 8 times a year.

You don't even have to deal with a real person at any stage. I'm not sure this is so wonderful.

[perdition79]

For a large car, say 15 gallons, 70 litres, you could pay around £70-£80 (say $130 or thereabouts). Happy motoring

Thanks for clarifying your nation's fueling procedure, the original post of the thread confused me. You follow the same procedure as us, except on the price. 15 gallons here costs $43 for premium gas. I think it's 97 or 98 octane in the UK, and 93 octane here in the U.S. I'd use cheaper fuel, but my Neon's dual-cam engine would knock.

[Gerben]

You follow the same procedure as us, except on the price.

The procedure is very similar in the Netherlands and our prices are very similar as well. The difference is all taxes. Our government isn't near bankruptcy. So if the US gets a carbon tax you can look forward to paying similar prices.