whats all the fuss about not using mobile phones in petrol stations.
apparently there has never been a reported case of a mobile phone causing any fires any petrol stations anywhere in the world.
if this is not true why are some mobile companies putting phone masts on top of petrol stations.
i can only think that it is a good excuse for jumped up little hitler petrol station attendants to use the tanoy to tell you off in front of other customers, must make them look important.
plus while i am having a go, i have heard that the real reason they don't like you using mobiles is that they could reset the pump.
if this is the reason why don't they just say so and stop being so dramatic.
if i am wrong then i appologise to all the jumped up little hitler petrol station attendants out there, as they have the crapiest,
lowest paid, nothing to do jobs around.
if you do come up with some evidence i want exact locations and reports not just idle gossip.

Originally posted by xltim
whats all the fuss about not using mobile phones in petrol stations.
apparently there has never been a reported case of a mobile phone causing any fires any petrol stations anywhere in the world.
if this is not true why are some mobile companies putting phone masts on top of petrol stations.
i can only think that it is a good excuse for jumped up little hitler petrol station attendants to use the tanoy to tell you off in front of other customers, must make them look important.
plus while i am having a go, i have heard that the real reason they don't like you using mobiles is that they could reset the pump.
if this is the reason why don't they just say so and stop being so dramatic.
if i am wrong then i appologise to all the jumped up little hitler petrol station attendants out there, as they have the crapiest,
lowest paid, nothing to do jobs around.
if you do come up with some evidence i want exact locations and reports not just idle gossip.

masts arent that electronic..................erm i dont think

BUT mobiles are and electronic equiment "can" cause sparks......thats why your supposed to turn off engines too

and not smoke :P

Radio transmissions from police radios, cab radios, CBs and amateur radio transmitters could in principle generate a spark between the earthed vehicle and the petrol pump nozzle, and thus theoretically spark the fumes.

However, there seems to be little evidence to suggest that the relatively low powers of modern handsets can do the same. However, the signals are nowadays equally unlikely to reset modern pumps, although older, non-mechanical pumps will probably be afffected because the electronics haven't been hardened.

However, the error generated at the pump is equally likely to be an increased or a decreased count, and is most likely to be a 'crashed' microprocessor which will probably prevent the pump from working as they tend to 'fail safe' and not pump petrol if the electronics goes pear shaped.

But, there's always the off chance so why not just turn off anyway? :)

Joe

sorry i didn't understand a word of that,
but thanx anyway

The risk(low it is) is as I recall related to the battery !

If the phone is dropped and smashes open and the battery falls in such a way that the battery manages to produce a spark i.e. from the contacts touching a piece of metal, then the petrol,if in the vicinity in a high enough concentration, could ignite.

The Sky One tv programme "Brainiac" presented by Top Gears Richard Hammond is all about science and the pleasure in blowing things up. They did an experiment about mobile phones and petrol.

The poured petrol inside a caravan (their favourite thing to blow up) and put a mobile phone inside it too. When they rang the phone... nothing happened.

They then added the mobile phones of all the crew and rang them all at the same time. Again, nothing happened.

So they earthed a guy in a polyester mac, got him to rub himself to generate static electricy and he touched the end of a wire leading to the caravan... big bang.

Moral of the story, mobile phones are fine; cr*p clothes aren't!

I watched the same programme Tony, and was about to refer to the same thing.

Apparantly stuff like 'shell suits' build up so much static electricity that they are probably the most dangerous things in the vicinity of petrol pumps - not seen any signs warning of this particular danger though?!

I can see it now - please remove your clothing before filling up with petrol :heyhey:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4366337.stm

...out of 243 petrol station fires attributed to mobiles around the world in the last 11 years, not one was caused by a handset.

Researchers said static electricity from the body caused many of the fires.

Going to show my age now...

I remember my dad used to go to 'Tommy's Garage'. It was a proper old style Garage with big blue wooden doors that rolled back and where men worked on cars. There were loads of wrecks out the back and a big pile of used tyres against the wall.

(No newspapers, no ice creams, no ATM, no red bull for £4.50); the only thing available other than petrol, deisel and oil was Green Shield Stamps.

You sat in your car, and waited to be served.
(this wasn't actually that long ago... those were the days)!

Anyway, Tommy would come wandering out onto the forecourt with a rollie in his mouth. He probably spent the best part of 40 years filling up cars with a cigarette in his hand!

I could say we are too risk averse these days, but to be honest I remember I used to sit in the back of the car with my fingers in my ears waiting for the bang!

Originally posted by Hels
Apparantly stuff like 'shell suits' build up so much static electricity that they are probably the most dangerous things in the vicinity of petrol pumps

The most idiotic thing I've ever seen was the firework party that the neighbours of the jet garage at Woodhouse Mill were having :roll:

Originally posted by Hels
Apparantly stuff like 'shell suits' build up so much static electricity that they are probably the most dangerous things in the vicinity of petrol pumps

That's why people say the atmosphere in Wetherspoons is 'buzzing'...

It's all the static coming off the nylon sports wear!

:hihi: :hihi:

There is also a programme on the Discovery channel called "Myth Busters" (8 o clock on Sunday night) where they tried their hardest to ignite petrol by using mobile phones, they couldn't do it either.

Originally posted by Deavon
That's why people say the atmosphere in Wetherspoons is 'buzzing'...

It's all the static coming off the nylon sports wear!

:hihi: :hihi:

Would that be exclusive to the Wetherspoons at Woodseats. :confused:

Wasn't there that 'trick' you could do that stopped the amount reel turning on the petrol pump by using your mobile.. I heard this 'myth' was the reason you weren't allowed them switched on on the forecourt... there was also a trick to use the pay'phone for free at Norton college if anyones interested x

Did you see the Brianiac episode on this subject? They tried and failed to get a caravan to explode with (I think) 30+ mobile phones ringing inside it. The caravan was completely soaked in petrol!

Apparently the reason why you are asked to turn off your mobile phone or at least refrain from using it is because there was one case in the US where a Gas (petrol) station blew up when someone happened to be on his mobile. There was no proof the phone causes it but people are paranoid!

I used to work in petrol stations years ago.

Mobile phone bans on forecourts go back donkeys years, to the time when phones were first invented.

Nobody knew if they were dangerous or not, but thought they might be. Health and safety being paramount, they were banned - just like they are in hospitals around equipment.

I have read recently that this ban might now be able to be phased out.

I am minded to point out though that had a phone ever set fire to a pump etc, you lot would have been the first to ask why you werent warned.

The staff who work in petrol stations are only following instructions, they are not scientists, they did not devise the rule. Their manager has told them that it is dangerous and that they must alert people and get them to turn their phone off.

They are not doing just to embarass their customers as someone suggested, that might drive them away which would not be a very good idea.

Originally posted by owdlad
Would that be exclusive to the Wetherspoons at Woodseats. :confused:

It has been so hot this week that I decided against my nylon shell suit for the Famous Woodseats Meet and wore my white stilettos and mini skirt instead. Shows off my tatooes and piercings to good effetc too...

But re topic (ever mindful is Msb of keeping to topic...). When I visit A Friend in Spain there are often people smoking at petrol stations (and using the mobiles) but then they smoke in banks and schools too so no surprise there then.

Reminds me of the the other urban myth that went around about 5 years ago saying that people shouldn't wear contact lenses if using VDUs in case a rogue spark fused the lens to your eye ball!!

wasn't the leading cause of fires at garages people driving into them with the car already on fire? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

PS - Does anyone actually turn there phone off to use the pumps, or do they just leave it in a pocket? I'm sure if me driving up with an engine running doesn't cause the entire thing to detonate that a microwave signal from my phone isn't going to do anything.

Originally posted by Belle
Health and safety being paramount, they were banned - just like they are in hospitals around equipment.

Hospitals are entirely different!!!! :rant:

I can tell my mobile is about to ring before it does if it's lying next to the clock radio, because the radio goes Brrr, clicketty, clicketty, Brrrrr, click before the phone rings.

I suspect interference of this sort on hospital equipment is far more serious :mad:

Originally posted by leddi
Wasn't there that 'trick' you could do that stopped the amount reel turning on the petrol pump by using your mobile.. I heard this 'myth' was the reason you weren't allowed them switched on on the forecourt...
Years ago there was a report on the news about CB radios fitted with illegal output boosters interfering with petrol pumps; perhaps this is why petrol companies are so keen for people not to use them. I haven’t seen any evidence of a mobile phone causing a fire on a petrol station forecourt.

As for hospitals, they make money from the extortionate cost of phone calls from the bedside TV/Phone unit; mobiles are a threat to that income and so are banned.

I was told that the fire risk was more from the lights coming on on the phone's screen (and the possibility of some kind of sparking there) than the radio signals. Who knows?

I saw an experiment, where they put 15 mobile phones of different models and types, some on auto answer, some not - all in an old caravan. The interior of the caravan was then liberally doused in petrol, the windows opened a bit and the area was evacuated. An insulated wire was also run back to the safe area, stripped at both ends and positioned near a piece of exposed metal in the caravan.

Then all the mobiles were called one by one, until they had all rung or been answered.

No explosion was forthcoming.

Then they stood a guy in a plastic dishbowl, wearing a fleece and a cagoule and told him to throw some shapes, and build up a nice static charge. Then they got the wire, touched it to his finger and ....



...boom!


mobile phones - theoretical risk
synthetic fibres - clear and demonstrable risk.

I know which I'd rather ban from petrol stations.

So Harry Enfield's Scousers ought to watch it at the petrol station with their shellsuits then? :)

Apparently there has never been a case of a mobile causing a fire at a petrol station, but then I suppose they have to be as safe as possible with that fuel around, look at how slow the pumps are. I hear that charging mobiles can be dangerous though, it's an increasing cause of domestic fires as the chargers easily overheat.

I remember when you used to be banned from using mobiles at work because they 'interfered with the computers'. Beyond making the screen flicker a little they did no harm at all, it was obviously more to do with the little Hitlers being afraid you weren't going to spend every second working. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Strix
Hospitals are entirely different!!!! :rant:

I can tell my mobile is about to ring before it does if it's lying next to the clock radio, because the radio goes Brrr, clicketty, clicketty, Brrrrr, click before the phone rings.

I suspect interference of this sort on hospital equipment is far more serious :mad:

In Austria all doctors carry a mobile around with them in the hospital so they can be contacted easily, rather than a pager as in the UK. Also according to a reliable source of mine whose involved in the medical profession say they have no effect on the machines, and the same applies to aircraft. There's just the tinyist tinyist possible risk (as on a petrol forecourt), and the bans are actually there more to keep the peace than to save lives.

A mobile can in principle cause some problems for any poorly designed piece of electronic equipment, including microsoprocessor controlled pumps and medical monitoring equipment. Under EU dircetives the onus is on the manufacturers of BOTH pieces of kit to ensure 'electromagnetic compatibility' with other pieces of correctly designed and operated gear.

The main issue with monitoring equipment is that the signals from the phone can appear as spikes on readouts if they're very close to the patient and the hook-ups haven't been done quite correctly, or if they're very close to the monitor. Most of the time the set up of electrodes on the patient and the design of the gear prevents problems.

Joe

hm we moved onto hospitals now? :)

have we done airplanes yet?

how about schools cos kids heads might explode ...............wishful thinking?

The only way I can see a mobile having any sort of effect is if you were literally on the phone in one hand while filling up with the other. As for using them on the forecourt, I'm not sure that is as greater risk as we are led to believe.

Mobile phones are a pain in many places, so restricting their use in certain places isn't a bad thing IMO.

Originally posted by melthebell
how about schools cos kids heads might explode ...............wishful thinking?
Only if their class mates 'slap' them too hard :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Lickszz
Mobile phones are a pain in many places, so restricting their use in certain places isn't a bad thing IMO.

I'm on the train. Yeah, we're just leaving Kings Cross. Did you re-arrange my 2.30? Yeah. Yeah. Blah Blah Blah.... Tunnel :suspect:

Mr Strix has loud phone conversations when we're on the train. :mad:

Funny. People usually frown at people on mobiles. They usually look alarmed when they can hear about track being ripped out :D

Mr Strix just needs to shout out - "yes, ok, I will evacuate the train at the next stop" ha ha

Anyway, I once filled up at Sainsbury's at Meadowhell and when i was inside paying for the petrol my phone rang. The guy behind the counter shouted at me to turn it off, "do you want to kill us all?" well, now that you mention it .....

Originally posted by Hook
In Austria all doctors carry a mobile around with them in the hospital so they can be contacted easily, rather than a pager as in the UK. Also according to a reliable source of mine whose involved in the medical profession say they have no effect on the machines, and the same applies to aircraft. There's just the tinyist tinyist possible risk (as on a petrol forecourt), and the bans are actually there more to keep the peace than to save lives.

some US planes will soon allow mobile use on board. It's been approved by the FAA.

I remember reading that this apocryphal tale came about in Australia where there was an explosion in a petrol station and the pump that went up was being used by someone on a mobile.

Later investigation found that the cars filler had a fault that caused a spark, and it was nothing to do with the mobile.

Unfortunately, the false mobile story had already taken hold, and now the whole wolrd has to endlessly suffer pointless rollicking over the loudspeakers from the pay booth staff. :roll:

Originally posted by Strix
I can tell my mobile is about to ring before it does if it's lying next to the clock radio, because the radio goes Brrr, clicketty, clicketty, Brrrrr, click before the phone rings.



Is that a technical term? :hihi:

Originally posted by Strix
I suspect interference of this sort on hospital equipment is far more serious
Yes. Mobile sin hospitals can interfere with sensitive monitoring and life saving equipment.