Yep you can fill your tank and then go in and pay for it. It's not unheard of for people to drive off and not pay which is why most places have cameras everywhere looking at faces and number plates. I was in a BP/Marks And Spencer petrol station a while back buying dinner for myself and someone else. I remember thinking this wouldn't have been possible until recently. Of course you could normally have bought something to eat but it wouldn't have been the same. I doubt many petrol stations sold a Beetroot and Lemon Ravioli followed by a Skinny Chocolate Frappe desert. .

I'll see your Ginsters Paradise and raise you an Amish Paradise

Don't forget the cut flowers....a lifesaver when you arrive home six hours late from a fishing trip and the wife is waiting with the rolling pin.

Our petrol stations have squeegees...and paper towels...and often a choice between pay at the pump or pay inside...but you certainly can pump-then-pay...except for the middle of the night IME... They do of course have excellent surveillance cameras. I received a call years ago asking for my housemate....it was the police. They were investigating a petrol theft from a local outlet. I was flabbergasted and said so...given he was a fairly senior Air Force officer...and a totally honest guy.. I asked them if they were SURE it was him. Turns out someone got confused looking at the camera footage... lol What impressed me was just how quickly that all happened. It seems our local police take the offence quite seriously.

What is wrong with stealing? Theft are undocumented sales. :rolleyes:

If you're a serious petrol thief you put on a set of stolen plates before you go and fill-up. The squeegees are usually so gritty and oily they're not worth using let alone stealing.

Many petrol stations have a car wash attached, so there is a financial incentive to have offer items to clean your car for free.

With large regional variations, I don't believe the actual crime figures bare out that the UK is a kleptomania, certainly 5x less likely to be murdered here.

Well my question still nags as today I went to Sainsbury's in Canterbury and one must deposit a pound coin to get your cart and refund it when it's returned. Is shopping cart theft a big problem in England? I can understand southside of Detroit, but Canterbury? To make matters worse they were all stuck together and could not be lodged apart. I tried to find someone to help but my efforts were futile. I waited among a group of others to get it sorted out. You think on England's biggest food shopping day they would take preventative measures to make sure their carts were all functional and not stuck together.

Half ...!

You are not ready Grasshopper! :)

This doesn't happen at Waitrose.

No, at Waitrose the shoppers all bring their own carts, made by Land Rover and pushed by their nannies or gardeners. ;-)

It's more do with forcing the customer to return the trolley to a designated collection point rather than have them scattered about with the risk of them blowing in the wind and damaging cars. If you really wanted a shopping trolley £1 seems a bargain price to me.

It's not really theft that's the problem where you see the pound coin slots - a trolley is worth a good deal more than a pound - but more that it's a good way to keep staffing costs down in a location where they can have few trolley parks.

Where theft is a problem, you will see magnetically triggered brakes on the wheels. Locations for this may surprise you, but the proximity of university students (like in Canterbury) is often a factor...

A metal supermarket shopping trolley (if rotated 90 degrees so the handle rests on the ground) is quite an effective barbecue!