Why oh why can’t they just put a little sign on the pump telling you whether or not they need your fuel card before they authorize the pump?
If in a hurry, it’s just a lottery at the minute! Watford Gap northbound this morning, when the ball dropped that the pump wasn’t being switched on, I had a quick glance around - HGV pumps just as well covered by CCTV as car pumps, albeit probably without ANPR. So why different rules for cars and HGVs?
Maybe the amount of fuel you can put in?
True… But what’s to say I don’t have a hundred green and yellow ‘useless’ cards stored in the centre compartment 
seriously, I’ve never seen them look at the card until I go in to pay!
Some places check card before you draw and some don’t, i suspect that those that don’t should.
I take it as a given that I am going to have to get my card authorised before I can draw fuel.
Javiatrix:
Why oh why can’t they just put a little sign on the pump telling you whether or not they need your fuel card before they authorize the pump?If in a hurry, it’s just a lottery at the minute! Watford Gap northbound this morning, when the ball dropped that the pump wasn’t being switched on, I had a quick glance around - HGV pumps just as well covered by CCTV as car pumps, albeit probably without ANPR. So why different rules for cars and HGVs?
Since the majority want the payment method first, why would you expect anything else, only been told once in 3 years that they didn’t need to have the card first before drawing fuel!
Would you hand your credit card to a complete stranger whilst you went and filled up ?
Never paid with a credit card but my bank once rang me to ask if I had bought a £750.00 mountain bike and booked a flight to Pakistan. 
So it must be asking for trouble leaving your card at the counter
I live in Bradford so didn’t need the flight 
Philberg, did you use the filling station at the bottom of Legrams Lane?
I have in the past but don’t now. the Shell garage on Hawarth road was known for card discrepancies too 
Surely it’s just easier to assume they want it first rather than wait for ages first
Of course we have to show method of payment first - we are lorry drivers, and therefore not to be trusted! 
The price of fuel has gone up so much, (and car sizes increased so much) that car drivers can put in a lot of fuel, but still be trusted to draw the fuel first.
The fact that we often have the company name plastered all over the vehicle, and more often than not, are not paying with our own money, doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Really pee’s me off having to queue twice!
I make my card visible to the cashier when in the queue.
Just occasionally,they see it and wave me forward.
I don’t bother queing, I just walk to the front and plonk my card on the counter, and if I am paying by credit card, I leave an out of date card with them, I always carry one with me, they never check, then I tell them I gave them the wrong card when I go back in to pay!