2 Points:-
1. I am pretty convinced that a garage I use gives short measure on occasion. I seem to get more fuel in the tank than normal and brim to brim consumption is also less than normal. I do a pretty regular journey pattern each week and my manual calculation of MPG agrees with the computer figure in car. However on the occasions when I put in an 'extra' 4-5 litres the manual consumption is 3-4 MPG less than the computer.
I did ring the council weights and measures dept about it, and don't use the garage any more. Does anyone know how often pumps go out of calibration or how easy they are to 'adjust'?
2. A garage near me(not the same one) cashed in during the fuel crisis and charged 10p a litre more than normal. I and some pals will not use it as we felt we were being ripped off. However I did read that some independant garages were being charge much more by the wholesale supplier. Is this so - and 10p on the price berore fuel tax?
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1. Changing the measure is a doddle. Just turn the adjustment wheel inside the pump on the meter by the amount + or - you have decided to allow the customer to draw. The drawback is it is usually sealed by a load of W&M special wire ending with an official W&M seal. Retailing motor fual with a broken seal is an offence.Cannot remember the penalty as I never did it (honest ! )but remember quite a few that did.
As W&M only check the pump annually then you might take the risk and "adjust" the measure in your favour just after the annual check (and have your suitcase packed in case W&M pay an early call). If you have a high throughput you could in theory make a fortune before you got caught.
A more prelevant fiddle was "boxing" where you bribed the tanker driver to drop 2 star into the four star tank. Your fuel stock records should betray this but the people that did it usually did not care.
2. Margins on motor fuel are very slim. When I retired 6 years ago I was grossing about half pence a litre. One £50 driveoff takes a long time to recover. Dealers (who own the site ) get a bit more but have to pay for everything. Most profit is made in the shop. I made more on a Mars Bar than a gallon.
HTH
Martin
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what i sometimes do is, the green container for the petrol, i fill it up to the 5 litre mark and if it says more or less money on the pump, then i complain.
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When I come to the uk my petrol consumption allways goes up and I am travelling slower.They certainly put some @!#$ in those pumps ,I think it is Rumanian cooking oil
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A couple of years ago, a small independent petrol station near my parents' house upped his price for all types of fuel to 99.9p a litre. Perfectly legal, as the prices were clearly displayed on the forecourt signs and on the pumps, but of course loads of people didn't bother to look, and only found out when they came to pay. The owner was quoted in the local paper as saying he was making a fortune, and would've charged even more, but 99.9p was the most he could fit on his signs!
Last time I was up that neck of the woods and passed the garage, I was most pleased to see that it had gone out of business and was up for sale. Or maybe the bloke had retired to the Bahamas on the proceeds.
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I got caught with exactly that a few years ago in Cambridge.
The guy's argument was essentially that the fuel was really there for his own business (some kind of car rental) and his prices were displayed visibly (which they were).
I remember it absolutely killed me since I was somewhat skint at the time and his prices were at least double to going rate.
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does anybody remember the garage on the news, it was at the time of the fuel protests, he was selling fuel at £5 per litre, that business also went down the drain.
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