fuelService app helps drivers with disabilities to refuel their car

Mr. El-Assaad, what is the story behind fuelService?

Niall El-Assaad: The freedom that having a car brings to people with disabilities is massive. However, it’s only after becoming paralysed in a cycling accident that I realized how difficult it was to refuel your car or to even get help to do so. It made me think that there should be a simple way of arranging help. The app helps the driver to find a local petrol station and check that there will be an attendant able to help before they go as well as informing the station upon their arrival.

The app is "by and for people with disabilities". Our purpose is to help as many physically disabled drivers as possible during their daily lives. The app is free for the users and it is fully non-profit. We partner with various non-profit foundations in various countries and all profit generated from fuelService is dedicated to research to cure paralysis. These are two great reasons to use the app.

The app is available globally. It has already been introduced and is actually in use in various countries like the UK, The Netherlands, Canada and Germany. In Germany though, we are only at a pilot phase. Therefore, we only have a limited number of stations available, and limited to one brand (ARAL). The purpose of this initial phase is for the company to test the app and to show them that there is a real interest within the disabled community. Therefore we invite all drivers with disabilities to download and try the free app (German version) here:

Users might initially not find a fuel station in their area, but this is only temporary. Our target is to have most of the staffed stations, of all brands, in the app, so that it becomes very easy for any driver with a disability to get help refueling their car anywhere in Germany.

How exactly does the app work?

El-Assaad: Getting help by using fuelService is extremely simple. This is how it works:

• Use your mobile phone to find and book with a petrol station before you set off.
• The petrol station confirms they will help so you can go there in confidence and you don’t waste your time.
• When you arrive, fuelService tells them which pump you’re at, and they tell you how long they will be.
• For smartphone users, it’s available as a free app.
• For other mobile users you call an automated number.

What are the advantages of the participating petrol stations?

El-Assaad: For the participating fuel stations, the use of the app is just as simple as for the drivers. The main advantage for them, compared to other solutions available in the past, is that they don’t need to invest time and money into installing hardware and software. The system is ready for them to use in ten minutes and the only thing they need is a phone!

Also, the great asset of fuelService is that it gives them the flexibility they need. If at time, they cannot help because they are understaffed, this is not a problem. The driver will be informed and will try and will simply, in a few seconds, contact another station via the app. With fuelService, there is no awkward phone conversation anymore since the message is transmitted automatically. Furthermore, the driver does not come for nothing since he can check if help is available before setting off to the station.

fuelService represents an easy way for fuel stations and fuel companies to show that they want to contribute to an inclusive society, that they care about people with disabilities and that they want to serve them as best as possible.

What does inclusion mean to you?

El-Assaad: After becoming disabled, I found that being able to drive made me feel like everyone else, until I ran out of petrol...

Society expects people with a disability to be active. That’s great but it’s only fair if we give them the means to do so. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities aims to guarantee accessibility of places, but also goods and services to people with disabilities. Companies, thus, have to take their share of that deal. Technology and new tools like fuelService enables them to do just that, very easily. When there is a will, there is a way!