Jo Green

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Just what is it about Petrol Stations exactly ?

I'm not singling out Petrol stations in Spain here either - from what I can recall most of them in the UK are just the same aswell.

- I called into the only Petrol station in my Town the other day (as I do at least a couple of times every week), but this time it was running an errand for a friend whose car needed jump-starting. Their battery was flat and they asked if I could call into the petrol station en-route to their house to pick up a pair of Jump-leads so we could get their car started.

I popped into the not-insubtantial shop and enquired if they had such an item on sale. Not a totally stupid question you may think....

It wasn't so much abuse that I was met with, but a sneering comment of total bewhilderment ...

" We're not an Auto-spares shop, you know... " the attendant laughed at my request. The way he spoke to me made me feel asthough I had just asked to buy an ironing board, or something equally out of place on a garage forecourt. A place where cars regularly stopped to buy fuel and other consumables associated with motoring...

But what did annoy the bejesus out of me is that on turning round to meekly scamper out of the shop with my tail between my legs, I had to practically leap over an obstacle course comprising a number of bags of garden compost, disposable barbequeues and bundles of firewood.

Maybe asking for an object so far removed from cars and motoring, such as jump-leads, engine oil and spark plugs is crazy in the eyes of the manager of a petrol station manager these days. Then again, maybe they should concentrate on doing what they should be doing and what they have a market for rather than trying to compete with garden centres and supermarkets.