Filling Station Freebies

[Twocky61]

In the 70's filling stations gave free glass tumblers to motorists filling their tanks

Also playing cards with the franchise logo on the back

[Twocky61]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

Nowadays Shell filling stations give you a free coffee & newspaper when you fill your tank

[Richard1978]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

I remember my parents getting things like teaspoons, cups & storage jars with petrol.

By the early 1990s these gifts seemed to fade away.

[Mulletino]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

I remember getting my first Smurf from a National garage in the 70s.

[staffslad]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

In 1970 one filling station chain...Shell?...gave away coins with the heads of that year's England World Cup squad on them. I think they were in little packets so you didn't know which one you were getting.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

Remember getting the glass tumblers and blank C60 cassette tapes at one time.

[staffslad]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

My post about the World Cup coins should, of course, have been 1970 rather than 1971.

[Clare]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

In the 70's filling stations gave free glass tumblers to motorists filling their tanks

They must have done that in the '80s too, because I remember Esso tumblers when I was a kid.

[zabadak]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

My post about the World Cup coins should, of course, have been 1970 rather than 1971.

I remember that - it came in, I think, a three-way foldout cover, in red, with a picture of Bobby Charlton on the front

[staffslad]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

I remember that - it came in, I think, a three-way foldout cover, in red, with a picture of Bobby Charlton on the front

Sounds vaguely familiar now that you have mentioned it.

[80sChav]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

I can recall the last ever time we got Green Shield Stamps - it was the day before my 12th Birthday - April 15th 1989, from a Petrol station on the edges of Mansfield, Notts

Obviously because that day was the day of the Hillsborough Disaster and Mansfield being pretty near in proximity - it is something that sadly stays/sticks in your mind

80sChav

[Trickyvee]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

Not sure if they came from petrol stations but I have a World Cup 90 coin and a teenage mutant ninja turtles coin from about the same time. The 1970 football coins made me think mine might have come from a petrol station but by then the freebies were dying out so maybe not. Maybe it was a newspaper. Can anybody verify?

[Pussywillow]

Re: Filling Station Freebies

In 1970 one filling station chain...Shell?...gave away coins with the heads of that year's England World Cup squad on them. I think they were in little packets so you didn't know which one you were getting.

Ah yes, yet another thing for me to beef about. Hah, wish these had been Shells giveaways. No, these were from Esso petrol stations, and they were hugely collected boys of a certain age in 1970. There was even a card mount you could get to display them all on.

And my beef ?

Ah, my father would not go to the Esso petrol station. Oh no. He insisted on going to the Shell one - as it was cheaper.

This really annoyed me as it meant I had nothing to swap like all the other kids, so all I had were the doubles (you know, those ones that came up again and again) that were discarded by those whose fathers all went to the Esso garage.

It was the same with the Tiger tails (Esso I bet) and the WWF (World Wildlife fund, not wrestlng) 3D animal cards.

Bloody typical. :cry:

[Big Tim]

We had a load of Kelloggs branded cereal bowls, and some pretty sturdy soup mugs which weren't branded, but listed the ingredients but not the recipe to make a soup. (They were more than big enough for a whole tin and could be used in the microwave). They came from Shell in the 1980's. Still use the soup mugs regularly, but the bowls are long gone. Can't remember if you had to collect points or spend a certain amount to get them, but I know we had six of each (all different designs).

Nowadays unless I run short of fuel in an unfamiliar area, I just fill up at either ASDA or Sainsbury's as it's usually 5-7p a litre cheaper than the branded filling stations local to me. So no idea if any promotions or sweeteners go on today. Happy to claim Nectar Points at Sainsbury's as a reward in any case!

[George 1978]

I am reminded by this thread of the Gene Pitney "24 Hours from Tulsa" song, sung as "24 Toasters from Scunthorpe" in the 1993 adverts, and an Eric Morecambe-alike businessman getting excited about them - it was for Mobil I think, and they did the promotion with Argos, did they not?

Any petrol station shop in Britain (i.e. belonging to any petroleum company in which one can "write" in numbers on an upside-down calculator - or with a mirror included if you count BP), were mostly known for basic items such as A-Z maps, soft drinks and chocolate bars for the journey. But of course, Esso were known for their "get free tumblers" promotion by scratching a pre-National Lottery scratchcard to see if you have won. Crockery and canteens of cutlery were also some of the prizes that could have been won.