All hands to the pumps. .

PULLING up alongside a petrol pump, the practice was once to wait for the attendant to come over and ask how much fuel you wanted.

Clad in smart overalls with the name of the establishment emblazoned on them, he filled your tank with two or four-star and you didn't even get your hands dirty.

Remembering petrol stations of times gone by, it's thoughts of the intoxicating oily smell and the whir as the pump topped up your tank that linger.

But with fears of shortages if a strike at Grangemouth oil refinery goes ahead tomorrow and Monday, it seems we can no longer take our fuel for granted.

Pumps were running dry across the Capital yesterday as the price of diesel approached £1.25 a litre in many stations. In days gone by that amount of cash would easily have filled an entire tank

These days most independent and rural garages have been squeezed out of the market by bigger companies.

Kerbside pumps are also a thing of the past, having been outlawed in Scotland under health and safety rules.

In times past the pump would read in gallons, not litres and the amounts would flicker past your eyes, with Jet petrol a penny cheaper than the rest.

The attendant would then take your money, bringing your change back out and asking if you wanted a shot of "Redex".

This was a petrol additive thought to clear carbon from the engine, although a shot of it usually meant when you started your engine back up, a cloud of smoke would come shooting out of the exhaust.

To keep customers' minds from the clock, petrol attendants would clean windshields – sometimes inside and out – as well as checking oil and water, and at no extra cost.

Shell attendant Henry Richmond made the news in March 1961 when he stopped a horse that bolted down Liberton Brae.

The pensioner and part-time attendant was pictured at a pump after the incident, with his overalls a little oily, but still looking smart in his tie and flat cap.

Up at Canonmills, a car wash which promised to do the job in just five minutes kept a steady stream of customers on the forecourt.

Esso opened Drum Service Station in Gilmerton in October 1958, while Jet started up its first Edinburgh outlet at Maybury Garage in May 1962, promising to offer a new era of "cheap petrol".

The Croall & Croall garage at Glenogle Road opened in February 1966 offering more Jet pumps on the forecourt.

Other garages which sprang up in the 1960s were the Braidburn Garage at Comiston Road, opened by WH Hunter in March 1963 and Broughton Service Station which opened on the road of the same name on May 1, 1966.

So if soaring prices and lengthy queues at pumps stress you out in the next few days, think back to when filling stations had old fashioned pumps – and old fashioned prices.