Motorists will have to get out of their cars and pump their own fuel at 10 petrol stations in Dubai and the northern Emirates from Tuesday. If customers respond well to the pilot project, which will see a reduction in numbers of attendants, more stations could be converted to self-service, the Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) company said yesterday.
The move was in keeping with the practice of petrol stations around the globe, the company said. In March, some Adnoc stations in Abu Dhabi began offering a self-service option. However, a spokesman for Emarat, another company selling petrol in Dubai and the northern Emirates, said it had no immediate plans to follow suit. Enoc said the move was not designed to reduce costs, but to get drivers into the company's convenience stores, or C-Stores.
"We want people to have the experience of going inside the C-Store and possibly making a purchase," said Khalid Hadi, Enoc Group brand and marketing manager. Pump attendants would be transferred to other jobs, Mr Hadi said. The company, which operates 165 stations, was opening 10 new ones, he added. Mr Hadi said Enoc had decided to launch the project during the hot summer months because it was a better test of people's willingness to fill their own tanks. For the pilot project the company had chosen 10 sites that saw low traffic volumes.
Motorists refuelling at one of the designated stations are being handed a one-page leaflet, printed in English and Arabic, that gives a step-by-step guide to what to do. Customers will have to park and pay for the amount of fuel they want at tills in the convenience store before filling their tanks. The pump will automatically stop once the customer has taken the authorised amount. If customers take less fuel than they have paid for, they have to get a refund from the cashier.
Attendants would be stationed at pumps for the next two weeks to supervise and assist motorists, said Mr Hadi. Most motorists at the Al Manara Enoc station on Jumeirah Beach Road yesterday welcomed the plan. "I find it more of a problem when the men are doing it for you and they start cleaning all your windows and then you have to tip them," said Zamir Khan, 56, who has worked as a taxi driver in Dubai for 35 years. "I hate that. It takes more time when they do that."
Martin O'Neill, 45, who moved to Dubai from Belfast 14 months ago, said he felt uncomfortable having someone else fill his tank for him. "I feel sorry for the pump attendants because they don't get paid much at all, and I think it must be demeaning for them," Mr O'Neill said. He said he had filled his tank many times even when an attendant was waiting to serve him. However, Lana Huniti, 29, a Jordanian, said she thought it would take longer for her to have to get out of her vehicle and fill up than to have an attendant do it for her. Also, she said, "I don't really like the idea of having to fill my own car in the heat, especially during the summer months."
There were mixed reactions from customers at the 15 Adnoc stations currently offering self-service alongside full-service pumps in Abu Dhabi, an Adnoc spokesman said: "Some said it was very good, some said it was not so good for them." However, at some stations in Abu Dhabi, attendants continue to fill up cars at self-service pumps. An employee at the station on Fourth Street, near 19th Street, said the station had been instructed by Adnoc to offer full service at all of its pumps just a few months after the self-service pumps had been introduced.
Nahad al Junaibi, 35, pulled up to a pump at the station marked as self-service and waited inside her car after asking the attendant to fill her tank. Self-service pumps could help motorists fill up faster, she said, but as an Emirati woman she would feel uncomfortable getting out of her car to pump her own petrol. @Email:mchung@thenational.ae @Email:arichardson@thenational.ae
