Everyone knows mobiles are not allowed in petrol stations, but…

Petrol stations everywhere are plastered with warnings about not using mobile phones on petrol station forecourts lest a caller inadvertently blow the place up. Yet has it ever actually been done? I don’t recall ever hearing of anyone actually having been seen starting a fire with a mobile phone.

Static electricity seems a much more dangerous thing, yet there are few if any signs saying beware static electricity, or of the need to electrically ground yourself:

Yet anyone who has put their phone next to their in car radio will have heard the interference, and this is a known issue in military circles where every effort is made to avoid Electromagnetic Interference which is generally reckoned to have caused the accidental firing of a missile on an aircraft carrier off Vietnam causing several deaths. Modern planes are subjected to every test manufacturers can think of. Closer to home, a car’s ignition coils are shielded to prevent interference with the car radio.

So I find myself wondering… is this phone thing an urban myth to stop people rebooting fuel pump computers so that they don’t have to pay for their petrol?

: 21 Jul 2008 09:41 |  Tags: Video |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem