Shell forecourts are reviving a decades-old tradition by reintroducing attended service, where customers can have their cars filled up for them.

The system was phased out many years ago but Shell has chosen to bring it back to improve its customer service.

"We recognise that forecourts haven't always been the most customer-friendly retail environments, and we want to try and do something about that," said David Wood, Marketing Manager at Shell UK.

Many drivers will remember when attended service was commonplace, but while it was originally ditched to save costs, Mr Wood says there is more to consider.

"People's time is very valuable; we hear this a lot from our customers," he said. "So what we mean to do with the forecourt attendants is by helping customers with their refuelling, it gives them time to relax a little bit and to get some more value out of their visit to Shell, whether tha's using the cash machine, the toilet or picking up a coffee.

"Also it's about the service; the human contact. It's talking to another person and having a joke or commenting on the weather - we hope that the attendants will brighten people's days a little bit. We hope they'll have a better experience of Shell and come back to us."

The system, which has been rolled out across the country, sees attendants offering to fill up the tank or put just as much in as drivers ask for.

"I've done it myself as part of the development phase and it's interesting the different conversations you get into with people and there is a mixture [of reactions]," explained Mr Wood.

"Initially you offer to fill up for people and you can see the look in their eyes, and you very quickly have to say `it's a free service', and it's a nice moment. Some customers do even then say `no thanks' and that's fine, it's not a hard sell."

The company's fuel prices will not be increasing to cover the cost of the service. Mr Wood concluded: "We're basically funding the cost of doing this from what we spend on marketing.

"You can spend money in many different ways to engage customers in your brand and we're saying that actually having a one-to-one conversation between two people on the forecourt is the most powerful way to tell people what we've got to offer them."