Drivers in Dubai can fill up their own cars at petrol stations, as part of a trial by Enoc.
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00:00Pumping your own gas. It's a new concept for Dubai's pampered drivers who are normally
00:10served by attendants at the city's petrol pumps.
00:13The city is known around the world for its obsession with customer service, where do-it-yourself
00:19is alien to most people. This is one of Enoch's self-service pumps, part of a two-month pilot
00:24project.
00:25Three stations in Dubai have gone fully self-service, along with another seven across the Northern
00:30Emirates. Drivers park in front of a pump, pay at the shop counter, and then return to
00:36fill up their tanks. But people are apprehensive about stepping out of the car and filling
00:41up.
00:42The problem is the heat. It's 40 or 45 degrees. I get out of my car and leave the air-conditioning
00:47on to fill up the tank. I can go to another station and fill up the tank.
00:50It's difficult for us, as citizens, to get out of the car and fill up the tank. We get
00:57used to it. There's no problem. But the problem is with women. It's difficult for them to
01:05get out of the car and fill up the tank.
01:08If they tell me, I'll do it. I like it. Sometimes there's a rush, so I go and fill up the tank
01:15and leave.
01:18Self-service petrol stations are not new in the Gulf. Kuwait has had them for many years.
01:23It's an unusual sight, watching attendants standing back as drivers grab the nozzles
01:28themselves. But Enoch were quick to say that the concept was not linked to any cost-cutting
01:33initiatives.
01:34This is really not about cutting jobs or cost-cutting. We source and need about 800 attendants, shop
01:44cashiers, pump attendants every year. So if some are moved away from sites because of
01:49self-serve, they'll be absorbed back into the network. We have about 5,000 staff work
01:55at our sites.
01:56For many expats, filling your own car up with petrol is not such a revolutionary idea. But
02:01it may take time to change mindsets for people here who are used to being indulged in true
02:07Dubai style. Sunita Menon, Gulf News.
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