Petrol pump attendants - freaky UK customer experience

Petrol stations in the UK have begun to follow the example of our American neighbours and supply a pump attendant to help you fill your car. Is this something we were really missing and had been requested by the British public or just an attempt to mimic the American brand of petrol station. In terms of customer experiences this should be a good thing as it makes our lives easier and creates more of a personal touch when going through the process of buying fuel. But are we ready and comfortable with this as an interaction as the UK has a much more private and defined boundary in terms of personal space. I see customers approaching this with fear and prepared to wait for an alternative queue that doesn't have this facility so they don't need to face this interaction that they are unaccustomed to. In terms of delivering quality customer service we must applaud the companies trying this and it would be a shame if we killed it off because of the classic British reserve when this really could lead to a better customer experience.  Maybe not epic but ultimately an improvement. 

Are the Marks & Spencer BP Petrol Station branches damaging the brand of their customer experience

With the rapid expansion of the M&S Simply Food Petrol Station proposition they have introduced a 24/7 retail outlet model but has this damaged their positive brand for customer experience.  Sure when you enter your local petrol station branded "M&S" you can find the quality food products you would find in the high street branches but is the customer experience the same.  Petrol station staff rarely understand the products and don't have the same association with the company being a more transient workforce.  So does this expansion risk damaging the reputation of M&S and is the model working?  Epic customer experience appears to no longer be top of the agenda for the company with expansion their primary focus.

M&S Simply Food at BP Connect