Current Affairs

[Mervyn and Trish]

Hoping it will be near normal by the time we go in May and August next year.

[Ray B]

The new method when filling up at a pay and go pump is the card issuer takes a £100 out of you account and sometimes it can take a couple of days to return the balance on the amount of fuel taken.
I always pay at the kiosk so not effected.
As we move more and more to paying by card, should we be more concerned by what the card companies could do when they all have us where they want.
As the saying goes, never put all your apples in the same basket

[oldbluefox]

Did anyone see the Fiji 5s singing on the medal rostrum? Not only was their rugby absolutely marvellous they capped it off in song. Wonderful!!

[Quizzical Bob]

Another idea I heard was to make people of pension age pay NI. i understand that at the moment we stop paying it whether we stop work or not.

The employer still has to pay NI no matter what the age of the employee. This is just as much a part of their income despite it being creamed off before it ever gets near them.

[towny44]

The new method when filling up at a pay and go pump is the card issuer takes a £100 out of you account and sometimes it can take a couple of days to return the balance on the amount of fuel taken.
I always pay at the kiosk so not effected.
As we move more and more to paying by card, should we be more concerned by what the card companies could do when they all have us where they want.
As the saying goes, never put all your apples in the same basket

Are you certain this is what happens, if you print a receipt it shows the actual amount paid, which I would assume is the amount debited to your card at that point.

[david63]

The new method when filling up at a pay and go pump is the card issuer takes a £100 out of you account

I don't think that they "take" the money but just ring-fence that amount - it has come about because people were filling up with petrol then paying by card with no funds on the card.

It is no different than when you stay in an hotel, or even on a P&O cruise.

[Esprit]

Another idea I heard was to make people of pension age pay NI. i understand that at the moment we stop paying it whether we stop work or not.

The employer still has to pay NI no matter what the age of the employee. This is just as much a part of their income despite it being creamed off before it ever gets near them.

Not if the Employer's annual NI bill is less than the £4,000 annual Employment Allowance.

[Esprit]

Employers can also use the "Trivial benefits" claim. So for example an Employer can pay an Employees M&S food bill so long as it didn't exceed £50 per time and claim it as a business expense. The deemed benefit in kind for the employee disappears under the trivial benefits allowance so no Employer's NIC is due.
Directors of their own companies can make the claims too, but for them it is limited to £300 per year. A nice little tax free bonus for husband & wife owned Limited companies!

[Ranchi]

The new method when filling up at a pay and go pump is the card issuer takes a £100 out of you account and sometimes it can take a couple of days to return the balance on the amount of fuel taken.
I always pay at the kiosk so not effected.
As we move more and more to paying by card, should we be more concerned by what the card companies could do when they all have us where they want.
As the saying goes, never put all your apples in the same basket

Not sure which pay at the pump app you use. I use the Shell app. With mine there is the option to pre pay £100/£50/ or fill the tank. I have mine set to the third option. (at least I think that’s what’s going on.) The first time I used the app I had £100 pending on my linked card account & also the amount I had refuelled with - in effect by clicking the wrong buttons I had used the pump twice. The £100 pending disappeared from my cc account in a few days. The second time I used the app I identified the pump I was using and the pump then became active and I filled up & drove away. For some reason, my wife checked my phone to discover that there was no activity on my credit card. We rang Shell customer service and they confirmed that we hadn’t bought any fuel. A grovelling phone call was made to the petrol station to own up to being ‘a drive away.’ They were fine about it & we returned the following day to settle our debts. Other than that …no problems.

[towny44]

The new method when filling up at a pay and go pump is the card issuer takes a £100 out of you account

I don't think that they "take" the money but just ring-fence that amount - it has come about because people were filling up with petrol then paying by card with no funds on the card.

It is no different than when you stay in an hotel, or even on a P&O cruise.

If the card is going to be rejected what bl***y good is putting a £100 hold on it, wont that be rejected as well?

[david63]

If the card is going to be rejected what bl***y good is putting a £100 hold on it, wont that be rejected as well?

The card will be rejected before it authorises the pump to dispense fuel

[towny44]

If the card is going to be rejected what bl***y good is putting a £100 hold on it, wont that be rejected as well?

The card will be rejected before it authorises the pump to dispense fuel

Right, so why the need to put a £100 hold on it if the card company know it's going to be OK?

[Kendhni]

Right, so why the need to put a £100 hold on it if the card company know it's going to be OK?

Because in between them checking and actually taking the money you could have gone somewhere else and spent some money. The idea is that they reserve £100 from your balance; you fill up and they then charge you the actual amount; in theory this should release the reserved amount, however there are some reports that this is not happening.

So for example if you had £150 available on your card then
- the pump reserves £100 (at this point the balance on your car would read £50)
- you fill the car with £50
- the pump takes the £50 and releases the £100 leaving you with a balance of £100 (as expected)
If the pump failed to release the £100 reservation then your balance would read £0 next time you tried to use your card.

[Ray B]

I raised this as some had filled up and found the £100 had been taken leaving them short. The balance is then repaid, should be once the transaction is finished, but reports have said that it has taken up to 2 days to return the money into accounts.
As I said, I never use card at the pump method. The kiosk payment is a normal transaction with no loading.

[towny44]

Since covid our Tesco filling station has stopped manning its kiosk, which really does not worry me as I prefer using pay at pump. However I recently filled up at our main Sainsbugs and the instructions for pay at the pump were far too complicated for my feeble brain, and I had to pay at the kiosk.

[Quizzical Bob]

When we have tried to fill up in America at a self-service pump it asks me for my ZIP code. I have to drag the attendant out into the big wide world.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Since covid our Tesco filling station has stopped manning its kiosk, which really does not worry me as I prefer using pay at pump. However I recently filled up at our main Sainsbugs and the instructions for pay at the pump were far too complicated for my feeble brain, and I had to pay at the kiosk.

That's curious. I wonder if the stores have different systems. I use Sainsbubs all the time. It's really straightforward. Scan Nectar Card if you have one. Insert payment card. Enter PIN. Remove card. Fill up. Would you like a receipt?

[Manoverboard]

The procedure at our garage of choice ...

Pop on a latex glove to open one's fuel cap then place magnetic clip holding £20/ £30 / £40's worth of notes near the open cap. Step back and wave in a friendly manner to attendant who then leaps forward armed with an unleaded pump nozzle to dispense the petrol. When complete we replace the cap, remove magnetic clip and then throw the glove into the litter bin.

Meanwhile my credit card remains as healthy and safe as we do.

[Kendhni]

Not looking good in Thailand. Just off the phone to a friend who says they have gone into another lockdown requiring you wear a mask at all times, when outside of your own home, and with a 9PM curfew. He has had no vaccinations yet and, if I understood him right, the government haven't purchased them yet ... they thought they had it under control until the delta variant set in.

[Mervyn and Trish]

The procedure at our garage of choice ...

Pop on a latex glove to open one's fuel cap then place magnetic clip holding £20/ £30 / £40's worth of notes near the open cap. Step back and wave in a friendly manner to attendant who then leaps forward armed with an unleaded pump nozzle to dispense the petrol. When complete we replace the cap, remove magnetic clip and then throw the glove into the litter bin.

Meanwhile my credit card remains as healthy and safe as we do.

Of course I forgot to mention that when my car is refueled it is the chauffeur who follows the procedure I outlined.

[oldbluefox]

Perhaps this is something Nicola should be focusing on instead of pushing her independence stance. I must admit the effects of drug addiction looked really bad the last time we were in Glasgow.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58024296

[Mervyn and Trish]

Today I watched Prof Tim Spector, of the Zoe' App, do his weekly update. He discussed various theories about the wobbles in the government's daily data, including number of tests and the age breakdowns of those taking them compared to those testing positive. But the interesting bit for me was his own figures. I rate them because firstly the number of contributors way exceeds the number taking daily tests or involved in the ONS surveys and because, unlike the latter, they are in real time. He says their data indicates that cases have stabilised over the last week or so and he reckons the R rate is now 1.0.

In other news, Labour, who previously described the pace of the current unlocking as reckless, now want us to move faster towards allowing double jabbed people to avoid isolation. You can't beat consistency.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Perhaps this is something Nicola should be focusing on instead of pushing her independence stance. I must admit the effects of drug addiction looked really bad the last time we were in Glasgow.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58024296

My thoughts too. It's not new. The figures have been dreadful for a number of years and only now she decides to act.

[david63]

One interesting fact about the R rate is that lowest R rate in England is in the North West which had the first problem with the Delta variant. Could this mean that we are starting to get over the "hump" and we may be on the downward slope?

[Kendhni]

At least now we know what Johnson has been up to when he isn't doing press conferences.