Petrol stations - No air for tyres

dermothickey

can we call them garages anymore? or just petrol shops?

P.C.

bongi69 wrote: »

Right, I grew up in South Africa and have been home recently, and this is how petrol stations work there:

They are similar to here, as in convinience store, toilets etc. In fact, same brands too, Caltex (AKA Texaco), Shell (before Topaz took over here), and are somewhat larger.

All petrol stations employ attendants (in the company uniform), to prevent drive offs, misuse, and provide employment in the local area, in a country with large unemployment levels.

All petrol bays have air hoses, and the attendant will pump the tyres as part of the entire process, if asked. Generally you do give a small tip, the equivalent of 50c, but this is your choice, as they are paid by the garage. He'll also check your oil, and will be able to top it up if necessary (you pay for the oil, or course). You don't have to leave the car, even to pay, as the attendant will take the cash for you, or process a credit card payment

I do appreciate that having pump attendants wont work here, as discussed in a thread about drive offs, as the minimum wage and costs of living are lower in SA, i'm just pointing it out as a comparison.

I do however like the idea that Topaz have put in place, i.e. trolley style deposit slots, and have found the air supply in my local Topaz to be at least working now

One small detail that you are leaving out is that the law in South Africa means that it is illegal for you to fill your own car with fuel.

It is a job creation law, which means that petrol stations are required by law to have trained forcourt attendants.

So, and nice as it sounds, I still prefer to put my own petrol in, check my own oil, etc.

Bandara

hugoline wrote: »

Hammertime (running a petrol station himself) gives the reasons for lack of this service in this thread.

how the heck did you find that one Hugo !

As an update on that thread, I installed a insert €1 shopping trolley thing on the forecourt which cost me only €20 to buy, since then I have not had one single airline damaged by being thrown or left on the ground to be run over. It was a great success so I could then put a new state of the art digital unit in at a cost of €4500








However.....




I have now a new problem of having to replace it 3 times from people slashing the head off the airline out of pure spite at having to put a €1 coin (that is fully refundable) into the unit to get the airline released.

You can't win.

corktina

buy a footpump or a compressor that fits in the fag lighter...

Ush1

corktina wrote: »

buy a footpump or a compressor that fits in the fag lighter...

Good advice and Halfords are doing 1/3 off them, good value:

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?catalogId=15551&storeId=11101&categoryId=212481&langId=-1&action=listrefine&constraints=teq%7C%7CType%7C%7CInflators%7C%7Csor%7C%7CPrice%7C%7C1

BronsonTB

Yes, Same around here (Sligo).....Think it's because of it being vandalised....Some have the air point but the connection has been broken.