16-03-12, 09:09 PM
My regular filling station at Sainsbury's implemented a similar policy a few years ago after a spate of shop robberies by people wearing crash helmets to hide their faces.
I found it a nuisance, wrote to their head office explaining why and pointed out that a notice on the door wasn't likely to stop helmeted thugs entering the shop to rob them anyway. I also suggested that they could let bikers pay at the "night pay" window. They wrote back saying they'd think about it and a few weeks later dropped the policy.
It may be that Esso have had a lot of petrol thefts and don't have ANPR cameras in which case they probably won't respond to protests about the inconvenience to bikers. They're not obliged to sell you petrol if they don't want to and the profit on 18 litres of fuel isn't something they'll lose any sleep over. At least with a supermarket chain you can threaten to do your grocery shopping elsewhere too!
I found it a nuisance, wrote to their head office explaining why and pointed out that a notice on the door wasn't likely to stop helmeted thugs entering the shop to rob them anyway. I also suggested that they could let bikers pay at the "night pay" window. They wrote back saying they'd think about it and a few weeks later dropped the policy.
It may be that Esso have had a lot of petrol thefts and don't have ANPR cameras in which case they probably won't respond to protests about the inconvenience to bikers. They're not obliged to sell you petrol if they don't want to and the profit on 18 litres of fuel isn't something they'll lose any sleep over. At least with a supermarket chain you can threaten to do your grocery shopping elsewhere too!