Re: Outrageous!
Well, I would guess one doesn't pay taxes on goods that weren't sold, so the damages are in buying prices (before the IRS states that their damage is twice as much in "goods stolen pre-tax").
Police suspect that high-tech thieves may have hacked into a Detroit petrol station before stealing about 600 US gallons (+-2,300 litres) of fuel. Fox News affiliate WJBK reported that the clerk was unable to shut off a pump that dispensed free fuel for 90 minutes. Ten vehicles took advantage of the security hole to fuel up …
Indeed. My firefighting training for being at sea taught me empty things usually made bigger bangs than full things.
Some scary videos to illustrate the fact.
Always felt more comfortable with 30,000 tonnes of petrol and diesel than without :-)
Tank inspections were not fun...
Nah. Might burn, though. Exploding gas/petrol stations are few and far between, outside Hollywood. The stoichiometric ratio for proper explosions rarely occurs in the wild.
Heh. When the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies in 1942 (the whole reason for the little visit to Hawaii being to clear the flanks so that Japan could get oil, FDR having cut their oil supply off) the Dutch tried to destroy assorted oil refineries, tank farms, etc., only to find that they wouldn't blow up despite the use of explosives. Some of them wouldn't even burn after someone tossed a few grenades into a tank... Of course it didn't help that the tank farm in question was under assault by paratroops of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Force at the time, and things were rather hurried. Someone had neglected to plan properly, and it wasn't Japan.
Petrol stations in the UK have a firemans's switch that allows the fire brigade to shut off power to all the pumps. This will very effectively stop people from using a faulty pump - although it would also stop people from using the other pumps. I presume the US petrol stations have them too, since they're clearly a sensible idea.
Alternatively, an employee could go stand in front of the pump, or call the police to get them to come stand by the pump.
But I expect the petrol station was being run by a minimum-wage employee who was trained to do things by the book, and there wasn't a procedure for this. Management chose to limit it's employees initiative, management can take the loss.
Pumps in the UK have physical locks to secure the handle into the holder, or at the very least holes for padlocks.
Call me cynical, but when they track down the 10 "customers" who got free gas I'm predicting they all know the station attendant in some capacity.
Yes, all petrol/gas stations in the US are required, by law, to have a master cut-off switch that anybody can operate to disable all pumps. It's one of the first things that new employees are shown.
Strangely, I've never heard of "pranksters" tripping these switches, any more than they trip mains breakers. Not sure why ... other than the fact that the miscreants know that retribution would be swift, with long-lasting bruising. Stupidity should hurt.
And I've seen kids hit every button on an elevator (lift) and get out on the first stop ... but that has nothing to do with the subject at hand, Mr. V.Jeltz, now does it? (Other than the "quick getaway from people unwilling to leave the transport before their stop" aspect, of course ... which they don't have when tripping mains breakers or pump cut-offs. Which probably answers my question. Ta! Beer?)
According to the FOX article, this took place around 1pm. That's a rather hectic time for fuel stations in my area, and we're not anywhere close to a major city. I don't know what it looks like from the clerks' point of view when customers are fueling, but it's not uncommon to have a steady flow of vehicles getting fuel, sometimes even waiting in line for it. I'd wager that several vehicles received the fuel before it was noticed, especially if there were people at the counter making purchases (distracting the clerk).
Your last point is very accurate. This poor lad was probably thinking of the ass chewing he'd get for turning off ALL the pumps and losing those profits, so was just focused on trying to turn off the problematic pump.
Even at 2260 it doesn't sound right.
For 10 drivers, that's an average of 226L. My car has a 60L tank and it is, depending on how you define these terms, a giant SUV (right pondian) or a city car (left pondian). That is fairly typical size. The average is almost 4 tankfulls. Something isn't adding up.
... "Tannoy" (note proper spleling) is a trademark for a particular brand of Public Address system, and is used as a Generic in the UK ... Why they don't use the more descriptive "PA" that the rest of the world uses is an accident of history, and one of those tannoying things that make British English speakers feel so superior to the rest of the planet. Just allow them the indulgence, pass it off as Yet Another British Language Eccentricity, and move on. It's easier that way.
> Note to my fellow Yanks ...
"bing-bong. Brimish Rull regret that mumble maz bem dermumble a mir mumble mumble bimble late. Passengers mizzing to mumble rimble mumble are advised to momble mar at murmble. Thank you mor mumble mimbling Brimble mum. bing-bong."
"Why they don't use the more descriptive "PA" that the rest of the world uses"
It's the same all over the world, certain brand names become so successful the brand become synonymous with the product type, even if it's actually another brand. Durex in Australia, Scotch Tape in the US, Sellotape in the UK, all the same product (and can cause confusion for Aussies in the UK and vice versa when asking for Durex in the wrong shop for he wrong reasons!)
When I lived in Michigan back in the early 2000s, pay-at-the-pump systems were still relatively new in many places and all the kinks weren't worked out. Someone discovered that a local station's system would unlock the pump for any card, not just a credit card, because it wasn't checking preauthorization properly. Unfortunately for the thieves, many of them chose to use their driver's licenses, and the system captured their license numbers from the mag stripe on the card, making it rather easy to track them down.
It's theft. You took the fuel, you didn't pay for it. It's pretty simple.
Moreover, it's almost certainly "Theft of motor vehicle fuel" (750.367c):
"The secretary of state shall suspend the operator's or chauffeur's license of a person convicted of an offense or attempted offense under this chapter involving the theft of motor vehicle fuel that occurred by pumping the fuel into a motor vehicle..."
In the case I mentioned the police essentially gave people a choice -- pay for the fuel they took, or be charged with theft and have their license suspended.
"When I lived in Michigan back in the early 2000s, pay-at-the-pump systems were still relatively new in many places and all the kinks weren't worked out."
In suburban Detroit? Maybe in the boondockier areas of Michigan where an independently-owned station can still make a go of it, but in the Detroit area you're going to fuel up in a major oil company's station, which in my experience converted in the 1990s.
"Detroit area you're going to fuel up in a major oil company's station, which in my experience converted in the 1990s."
In a lotta ways the US is so far ahead of us
In the 70s they had telephone systems we could only dream of - answer machines , party calls , on hold buttons... All we had was pulse dialling or Doris at the exchange patching wires.
...And now we still dont have pay at the pump! we have to queue twice for no goddam reason at all.
(ok we do have it here and there - a couple of the pumps at my local morrisons, which last time I tried it , wouldnt read my card)
My dually tow rig holds 80 gallons (30 gallon main tank, and two 25 gallon saddle tanks), and I know quite a few people who have similar extended range tanks. Probably not all that common in Detroit, though.
9 cars at 15 gallons each, and one truck with nine 55 gallon drums?
9 cars at 20 gallons each, and one big rig with long-range tanks?
10 cars at 10-20 gallons as a diversion, and one large tanker out back with a pump and a hose into the underground tank?