Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's petrol station rules explained - including £120 fee

Drivers should be aware of potential payment changes at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's petrol stations if they pay at the pump.

Some petrol stations take a £120 pre-authorisation fee before you're allowed to fill up your car. This money is "temporarily" held on your account, to make sure you have enough in your bank account, when the correct amount of what you've actually spent should then be charged at the end of the transaction.

Some supermarkets have also gone cashless at certain petrol forecourts. Earlier this year, Asda announced it was converting 82 sites with drive-thru payment kiosks. There are also changes at Sainsbury's branches too. In April, Morrisons completed the sale of its forecourts business to specialist operator Motor Fuel Group (MFG). The £2.5billion deal includes 337 of the supermarket's petrol stations and 400 associated sites in the grocer's car parks.

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Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's has self-service pumps that allow customers to pay for their fuel at the pump rather than going into the kiosk. These Pay@Pump facilities will request a £100 pre-authorisation amount before refuelling to ensure that customers have sufficient funds to cover the cost of fuel dispensed, following industry requirements mandated by Visa and MasterCard.

Morrisons

There are no plans for the MFG petrol stations at Morrisons sites to be fully cashless, the retailer told GB News. The supermarket has taken a 20% stake in MFG and agreed commercial and supply deals, which Morrisons said underpins its convenience growth strategy.

Morrisons will use the cash proceeds from the sale – worth £1.8billion after fees and expenses – to "strengthen its capital structure and repay certain of its debt obligations". The supermarket said: "While the company may elect to apply up to £1bn proceeds towards reinvestment, it intends to explore if there are efficient opportunities to apply proceeds to debt reduction."

Tesco

If you're using Pay at Pump at Tesco forecourt, there will be a £120 pre-authorisation charge. Tesco accept all contactless payment cards for payments up to £100 if you go into a kiosk, but contactless isn't accepted at Pay at Pump.

"We accept all UK-registered chip and pin cards at our Pay at Pump stations, except for Visa Electron," the grocer said. "We accept the following fuel cards at our kiosks: fuelGenie, UK Fuels, Keyfuels (purple card only), Allstar."

It adds: "If your account balance is under £120, your card issuer should respond with the lower amount they'll allow, and the fuel pump screen will show the value you can fill up to. Some card issuers might not allow partial authorisations below £120. If this happens, please try another payment card."

Asda

Asda confirmed the full list of 82 petrol station sites where it will be axing manned checkouts to The Mirror earlier this year. The supermarket chain said it had been converting the sites with drive-thru kiosks since December last year.

An Asda spokesperson said: "As more than 90 per cent of all payments on our Superstore forecourts are made via card or a contactless device, the colleagues who worked on these sites are moving into the store so they can better serve our customers. These conversions began in December and we expect to complete the changeover later in 2024."

Asda stores which now have drive-thru payment kiosks at superstores include:

• Queslett
• Oldbury
• Minworth
• Shirley
• Colne
• Bradford
• Bolton
• Horwich
• Queensferry
• Colchester
• Canterbury
• Greenhithe
• Darlington
• Great bridge
• Dudley
• Fleetwood
• Govan
• Cumbernauld
• Gloucester
• Kingswood
• Ipswich
• Kilmarnock
• Kirkcaldy
• Bootle Strand
• Hunts Cross
• Lincoln
• Eastlands
• Hulme
• Radcliffe
• Byker
• Nottingham
• Norwich
• Chadderton
• Newport (Isle of Wight)
• Havant
• Clayton Green
• Barnsley
• Swansea
• Charlton
• Slough
• Swindon
• Sunderland
• Donnington Wood
• Golborne
• Birchwood
• Westbrook
• Runcorn
• Leigh
• Skelmersdale
• Bridge of Dee
• Portlethen
• Middleton Park
• Bristol Whitchurch
• Patchway
• Newtonards
• Cardiff bay
• Pentwyn
• Aberdare
• Merthyr Tydfil
• Caerphilly
• Derby
• Bideford
• Woking Sheerwater
• High Wycombe
• Elgin
• Wrexham
• Morley
• Ashington
• Mansfield
• Grantham
• Kettering
• Corby
• Great Yarmouth
• Rochdale
• Fareham
• Swindon
• Eastleigh
• Falmouth
• Hartlepool
• Watford
• Cannock
• York

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