I personally never understood the America style of paying for petrol first, and then presumably getting a refund at the end? As an Australian, I remember filling up in the US and the whole system baffled me (especially because the US bowsers did not accept my Australian Mastercard). Here, we just pull up, fill up, pay, and then leave.
There was an explosion of people driving off without paying like ten years or so ago, when prices were very high, and they changed to the pay-first system. It used to work the way you described.
This is common in Europe too. I guess the point from the retailers point of view is that they eliminate the risk of you driving off without paying.
It's extra annoying on a motorbike where you only have a rough idea of what your fuel level is and you absolutely need to fill it to the brim (typically you only get 150-200 miles out of a tank). At least in a car you can wait until you have a quarter of a tank and the put 40€ and know it's going to be some where around 3/4 full.
But why not have security cameras that record your face/license plate? People steal fuel here every so often, and you can be damned sure that the police will knock on your door asking about it within 24 hours.
Yeah, they have cameras and even ANPR in the UK. It's probably a easy one for police to deal with in most cases, often where someone has driven off accidentally, but anyone really trying to steal from them would presumably have the sense to use fake number plates.
Every gas station in France does that. If you leave the station without paying, the station may report (sometimes in real time) your car to the police (which is sometimes very close on certain highways) and the manager can even submit a complaint against you.
