How dopey are some people?

[d9f1c7]

http://news.sky.com/h...news/article/16199277
decanting petrol woth an open jug in a kitchen with the gas cooker on! That's got to be one for the Darwin awards.

[DTCwordfan]

The dangers are outlined on the station pump posts where the saftey instructions are posted, Ummmm; yes, most people blithely ignore them but it's the risk of a spark arising from a phone being turned on or off in the Zone 1 area of the station. Just like if people smell gas in a house, never turn on or off the lights or anything. Same with mobile phones, there is a risk of sparking in the circuitry.

[ummmm]

Yeah, more fool them. She's not the first to do something completely stupid, and she won't be the last.

[ummmm]

I know the supposed risk. Never heard of it happening though.

[andy-hughes]

I think ths woam was more a victim of ignorance than stupidity - and they are not the same thing. Ignorance is not knowing a risk, stupidity is knowing the risk and ignoring it.

We all do stupid things, I know someone who now has an eight-figure property portfolio who tried to start a fire in his lounge grate using petrol, and nearly blew the house up.

[d9f1c7]

The mobile phone thing was busted by mythbusters. They were unable to get 100 mobile phones to ignite a gas even more volatile that petrol gas.

[DTCwordfan]

I worked in the retail business for a major in the Far East - it has happened...

[Gromit]

What an idiot. Listening to the Government.

[daffy654]

http://news.bbc.co.uk...land/kent/4366337.stm

[ummmm]

I thought the same as d9.

[DTCwordfan]

I quote:

G. W. Low

"I work with electrical equipment for use in the Hazardous Area Industry. It is a well know fact that using a mobile phone while filling up at a petrol station could cause an explosion. It’s not the phone signal but the possible static charge that could build up on the person and then discharge to the car via the pump filler. I have a photo of a Shell burnt out station after such a situation. The people that are writing in should state their experience in the Petrol Chemical Industry before commenting."

Matt Morman (a cell phone technician)

"I had a few things to comment on about the "fact or fiction cell phone myth". There is a industry standard that our Government regulates the electronics used in gas pumps, and anything dealing with explosive chemicals. The reasoning for this is the ESD (Electrostatic discharge). Gas pumps have specialized equipment in them to dissipate the static. As a matter of fact, any equipment involved in the manufacturing, shipping, or selling of chemicals, or petroleum's has to b equipped with the protective circuits. All electronic devices emit ESD, regardless of the power output, However, cell phones are not equipped with this feature. That is why the owners manual for every cell phone carrier warns you not to use it at a gas pump, so they are not liable when someone blows themselves up.

[youngmafbog]

Yes DT, but mythbusters could not get it to happen so there must be other mitigating circumstances to complete the reaction.

Personally I would err on the side of caution and go with you though.

This woman though illustrates why not everyone should have a vote.

[Zeuhl]

Why did she have the oven on?

Was she re-heating a pasty?

[douglas9401]

I've always thought of myself as a bit unfeeling for the plight of others in their misery and misfortune but I see from some previous posts that I'll never wear the crown.

[barney15c]

Assuming the woman was decanting the petrol from her own car, it would be reasonable to expect that she would have been sythoning it from her car fuel tank to another container that i theorise had no spout and then to a jug to go to her daughters car. The car would have been outside or in a garage, why didnt she decant the said petrol there rather than takeit into the kitchen. Not only did she make extra work for herself she paid the grave consequences of her actions.

[flip_flop]

"It might seem a bit daft. But then again, our government has been encouraging us to panic buy petrol..."

Have they?

I must have missed that!

I was amazed at the number of people interviewed on the news this morning, while queing to fill up, were only doing so becuase they had a long journey to go on.

It seems everybody, but me, is going on a long journey today.

The bottom line is this - people who are panic buying even though no strike has been called, and there will be no strike until after easter at the earliest, if there is one at all, are mindless, bunterish lickspittles.

[barney15c]

i have heard some people were even stockpiling food just in case the fuel crisis affected deliveries to food stores, this sort of thing rely brings the worst out of people.

[B00]

kiki frog raises a very interesting point.

Why didn't the government urge people instead to walk, bike car share etc more instead of screaming at us to "FILL UP YOuR CAR NOW, OR WE'RE ALL DOOOOOOMED!!!"

Possibly as they've said, they'd lose money themselves if we did.

[Zeuhl]

Fuel sales is a massive cash flow for the administration.

They are so 'morally reprehensible' they even tax the tax!

[Baldric]

Can I just say that whilst I have ever sympathy with this woman and her family, it was a bl00dy stupid thing to do, either in 'ignorance' or the 'it will never happen to me' mind set

[sp1814]

"The woman, named locally as Diane Hill, 46"

I'd assumed she's called Diane Hill everywhere, not just in her neighbourhood.