The Lemon Fool

Stopped by at a BP garage to put some air in my tyres; minimum charge £1 - one whole British pound ! Drove down to the Shell garage (declaration of interest, I hold shares in Shell) where the charge was a more reasonable 50p.

I feel somewhat outraged at Shell's blatant attempt to scalp my hard earned money from me

The idea is that if you're sufficiently outraged, you generate sufficient hot air to inflate your own tyres at no cost. They're trying to do you a favour!

Writing of which I am in a bit of a dilemma. I wonder how accurate these garage air pumps are? Being conscientious about this sort of thing, I went into my local Asda I think it was for petrol and checked my tyres at the same time. Set them all correct and drove away. A few miles down a dual carriageway towards home, my bleeper thing on my dashboard went off and the little signal lit up telling me that I had a soft tyre. I slowed from 70 down to about 45/50, feeling quite vulnerable to other cars zipping past. I got home, took a look and all seemed OK so I then carefully drove to the place that supplied a couple of new tyres recently, told them the story and they checked all four tyres. Different pressure in each one!

They set them all again for me and told me that it happens all the time and not to use the forecourt machines but to get my own equipment.

So far I have done nothing.

Dod

EssDeeAitch wrote:................

I feel somewhat outraged at Shell's blatant attempt to scalp my hard earned money from me

Of course, I meant to say BP not Shell

Paid-for air lines are a dumb tax on those who haven't got the wit to buy their own tyre inflators. Dammit, they only cost a tenner or so.

Mind you, I'm often a bit bothered when I look at the queues waiting in line for the free air at my local Sainsburys. Almost always, they're old cars or very young/very elderly drivers, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if many of them were nursing slow punctures of one sort or another. The idea that a nearly-flat tyre might require something more than a temporary shot of free air would presumably come as a surprise to some people?

I'm hanging my guilty head here, but I should know. My newly-bought car (18 months old) had a very slow puncture that tripped the tyre pressure sensors every two months or so. But it was the first time I'd had a car with sensors, and it was only ever a couple of pounds down. I was freshly back from 2,500 miles across France when I had a couple of tyres changed. And the fitter found the ground-down stub of a screwdriver blade right through the rear offside tyre, and visible only from inside the casing. Sheesh.

BJ

EssDeeAitch wrote:Stopped by at a BP garage to put some air in my tyres; minimum charge £1 - one whole British pound ! Drove down to the Shell garage (declaration of interest, I hold shares in Shell) where the charge was a more reasonable 50p.

I feel somewhat outraged at Shell's blatant attempt to scalp my hard earned money from me

Buy a pump form Halfords, and buy a digital gauge online or from e.g. the Snapon van/man? It'll do wonders for your tyre tread wear and your fuel consumption if you get the pressures more accurate.

yorkshirelad1 wrote:

EssDeeAitch wrote:Stopped by at a BP garage to put some air in my tyres; minimum charge £1 - one whole British pound ! Drove down to the Shell garage (declaration of interest, I hold shares in Shell) where the charge was a more reasonable 50p.

I feel somewhat outraged at Shell's blatant attempt to scalp my hard earned money from me

Buy a pump form Halfords, and buy a digital gauge online or from e.g. the Snapon van/man? It'll do wonders for your tyre tread wear and your fuel consumption if you get the pressures more accurate.

I think that's a good idea, thanks for the note

EssDeeAitch wrote:Stopped by at a BP garage to put some air in my tyres; minimum charge £1 - one whole British pound !

That's inflation for you!

Julian F. G. W.

jfgw wrote:

EssDeeAitch wrote:Stopped by at a BP garage to put some air in my tyres; minimum charge £1 - one whole British pound !

That's inflation for you!

Julian F. G. W.

Deserves an entry in Laughing Lemons