Emiratis have mixed feelings about self-service petrol stations

Some drivers doubt system will catch on.

DUBAI // Emiratis have mixed responses to Enoc's plans to introduce self-service at some petrol stations in July.

Some thought the company would lose business, as people would drive to manned stations rather than pump their own gas.

"I don't understand the logic behind this," said Abdullah, who was with his wife at an Enoc station off Hessa Street in Dubai.

"They tried this a few years ago and people stopped going to these petrol stations. I can see the same thing happening again.

"People have gotten used to having this service over many years. You can't just expect them to accept a different system."

He said he did not believe self-service would catch on. "People will just go to a different petrol station."

But for Omar Ismail, there was no issue. "I doesn't bother me in the slightest that they are going to bring this in and I don't know if any of my family or Emirati friends care either way," he said.

Jamal Al Sharif said the timing for the self-service, midnight to 6am, would not affect the vast majority of road users.

"It's only in 10 stations from one company, so it's not as if there aren't alternatives for people if they don't want self-service," he said.

"I guess whenever people have to change their habits it takes a bit of getting used to, but then it becomes routine."

* Nadeem Hanif