Put a lid on it

I have ridden motorcycles for longer than many of your readers have lived, and consider myself a courteous and friendly biker. But there is one aspect of modern life that takes the fun out of biking for me: the insistence of petrol stations that we bikers remove our helmets when filling up. For years I have ‘got away with it’ by wearing a flip-front helmet, so I can just flip the front up and show the suspicious man behind the till my face, which seems to pacify them most of the time. However, I recently visited a petrol station in the outskirts of York where they would not activate the fuel pump until I completely removed my helmet. Just opening the front was not good enough! Now, I’m all for being polite and if bikers really caused much trouble at petrol stations I could make my peace with this, but it seems petty and pointless to me. Bikers only spend about £10-15 at a time, so even if you were criminally minded you wouldn’t get away with much, and with all the CCTV cameras around I doubt that you would get away with it at all. And yet, we have to remove our helmets, juggle with the lid, glasses, earplugs and the rest at the till, get everything wet if it’s raining, and all just for one quick monetary transaction. Do we really have no trust left in this country anymore?

Andrew Freeman MCM says: It’s an old issue that you raise with your letter, Andrew and one that – to be honest with you – we’re a bit split on in the MCM office. So in this instance we’re going to leave this one open to all of our readers.

So, MCM readers, what do you think? Should we all take our helmets off as a matter of course? Is it about right the way it is? Are you happy to comply with the ‘No Helmet’ stickers in petrol forecourt windows? Do you actively go against the ruling and shop elsewhere? Let us know – we’d love to hear from you on this matter.