Petrol pumps meter cheating...

MOTORISTS are complaining about rampant cheating at some petrol stations.

They said cheatings still occur even though filling stations put up notices advising customers to monitor the meter while attendants pump petrol into their tanks.

Recently, a motorist who declined to be identified, filled her salon car with half tank of petrol during daytime which usually costs her between $18 and $20. While the pump nozzle was stuck in the tank, the consumer continued, the counter did not reach zero and she ended up paying $25.

"The car before mine pumped $5 fuel, as seen on the meter. Without resetting the fuel pump, the attendant started pumping fuel and the meter jumped to $6.50 within two seconds and I only managed to stop it when the attendant pumped up to $10," said the motorist.

The woman said that the modus operandi that the attendant used was to ask the driver to move the car forward to make way for an incoming car. By doing so, the attendant blocks the driver's view of the meter, while the pump is running.

Such practice, according to the motorist, occurred in Telisai, Jerudong and Gadong, after discussing it with friends on online social networks.

Nasehin Yahya, manager of a petrol station in Gadong, said yesterday he was aware of consumers complaining about the petrol pump's meter cheating, although none of the incidents have been reported at his station.

"It is better for customers to report directly to the gas station (supervisor) if there is any incident that upset them, so the matter will be resolved immediately," Nasehin told The Brunei Times.

He said that if such incident ever occurred, the company will conduct an investigation. "However, if we found that our staff were being dishonest or cheating the customers, we will immediately terminate them," he said.

Nasehin added that all his staff were prohibited from practising such dishonest behaviour. "We told them that the company knows all possible tricks, so don't try one."

He explained that every night when the staff do the sales calculation, they have to make sure that the amount of outgoing petrol tallies with the money received.

To provide its best service for the customers, the station is required to follow the general rules known as "the eight steps".

The steps are: greetings: ask the customers what type of service or product they need; apply safety standards which include requesting customers to present container approval, switch off cellular phone and no smoking in the premises; collect the payment; inform the customers about promotion products; and remind motorists to drive safely.

A supervisor of another gas station in Bandar area who refused to be named said that any employee found cheating the customers will be immediately terminated. "This will not need any prior warning because we will take strict action of terminating our staff who have cheated at the gas pump," the supervisor said.

He added that every day, a routine check must be done before the gas station opens for business. The check list consists of making sure that all dispensers are functioning; dispenser, nozzle, handles, hoses and splash guards clean and undamaged.

Both of them said that sometimes they found that in the case of an old type of car, it will need some time for the petrol to fill the tank. Some motorists even complained that the amount of petrol did not match the amounts paid, but in actuality, it takes some time for the gas to fill the tank, they explained.

The Brunei Times

P/S : It was reported the incident happened in several petrol station in  the country, Is it true that the staffs are cheating? or it happened due to some machine error- could be due to new machines were installed in these stations... 

This incident remind me of a theory of Refilling your Oil Tank, some people believe that, you get more petrol a.k.a paying less for petrol if you buy it early in the morning. 

This theory is based on that, when the temperature is low (in the morning), the oil contract, and since oil is calculated by volume, you get more oil for the same price. 

Logically the theory should works but I am not sure either it really happens. How about if the station heated up the oil by certain degree, then you ll get less oil a.k.a you pay higher... :)

photo credits : http://travelblog.portfoliocollection.com/FeaturedImage/petrol-pump.jpg, http://www.freshgasflow.com/images/physics_images/vaporiser_images/liquids_metal_contract_vapo.gif

Missteps in Oil Spills cleanup?

1. Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, outsiders watching the cleanup say, the federal government and BP have made key mistakes that delayed or distracted the effort to stop the spill. Some were probably inevitable: BP engineers and government officials were forced to improvise in the face of mounting disaster.

2. Officials used "dispersants" to break up the oil. But some experts think that those chemicals caused much of the oil to remain below the water's surface, out of reach of standard cleanup techniques.


3.  The first attempt to place a "dome" over the well failed because of a well-known problem called hydrate crystals. 

4. The government and BP repeatedly under-estimated the oil's flow, and BP was not ready to capture all of the oil being siphoned up from the well.

5. We didn't know what state the blowout preventer was in, what state the well was in, what state the riser was in, so there's been a lot of learning," Odone said. "We've learned. I don't know if we've made mistakes. I think we've tried things and we've learned from that."

6. So far, statistics of the cleanup effort indicate, at best, mixed success. A flotilla of vessels have skimmed 21.9 million gallons of oily water from the gulf, and 5.2 million gallons have been burned.

7. BP has siphoned 202,000 barrels (8.5 million gallons) to the surface using a "cap" over the leak. That rate increased Wednesday, when a second specialized ship arrived to help with the task. Also, on Thursday Allen said a relief well, being drilled to plug the well far beneath the sea floor, was ahead of schedule.

8. But the oil is still spreading faster than it can be cleaned from beaches and marshes. On Thursday, the Coast Guard said oil was on about 72 miles across the Gulf Coast, up from 68 on Sunday

You don't like BP? then why not participate in this contest- BP (Logo Redesign Contest) Logo Design Contest at : http://www.logomyway.com/contestView.php?contestId=1746

A Controversy speech by BP "We care about the Small People"

 "We care about the small People"

Really??

- The chairman of bp apologize for using that term " small people," he said that english is not his first language, it was a clumsy choice of words.

-Tthe small people in this parish kicked their butts all the way back to england in 1812. so i don't -- i don't think we're so small. and i don't think they're so smart. if they were so smart, that well wouldn't be out there flowing right now.

- Early quote from bp's tony hayward, minimizing the leak, that the gulf of mexico is a very big ocean

- BP goes around the world and it somehow has an attitude of the british empire, somehow, that this is their -- they can do what they want with the little people. that doesn't fly in 2010.

- Well, the folks here watching that black crude wash up on their barrier islands and their marshes say it's hard enough without being humiliated by bp. and they say even if it was a misstatement, it still hurts. matt?

British Petroleum Coffee spills (comedy)

This is very hilariousness comedy but yet seems telling the truth how British Petroleum handling the spills. :)