Using your mobile phones at petrol stations is not allowed- so why the new in-car pump payment app, David Parker asks
The United Kingdom Petroleum Industry Association has very clear advice on its website about using mobile phones in petrol forecourts. To quote: "The use of mobile phones on UKPIA members’ forecourts is actively discouraged for several reasons:
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"Risk of incendive sparking – Mobile phones are not designed and certified for use in explosive atmospheres which exist temporarily
around the pump and nozzle during refuelling as well as around the fill and vent pipes during petrol deliveries. Such use is expressly forbidden by law under the conditions of the petroleum licence and associated guidance.
"Whilst the risk of incendive sparking from mobile phones is low, they are not intrinsically safe devices and should not be used in
those hazardous areas that exist on a forecourt. (Generally, there is no need to restrict the use of mobile telephones in other areas of
the forecourt, such as in the shop, in motor vehicles parked on the forecourt or in other non-hazardous areas.)"
In fact, Article 115 of the General Traffic Regulations prohibits "keeping the engine, lights, as well as electrical systems such as
the radio or devices that emit electromagnetic radiation turned on".
And this advice and regulation really is enforced by petrol retailers, as this great chatroom piece from practicalcaravan.com
verifies. It reads: "As I pulled into the petrol station my wife was sitting in the passenger seat talking to our daughter on her mobile. I
stopped at the pump, got out and proceeded to fill the tank with fuel as you do. Next there was a tannoy message: "Would the
person at pump 12 stop using their mobile phone". As I was at pump 12 I took no notice as I was not using my phone. Then the
message played again, I still took no notice as I was not using my phone. Then the petrol pump got turned off.
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By GlobalDataThe tannoy message then said: "Stop the person inside your car using the phone." Now, as the windows were closed, I had to then leave the nozzle unattended and go to my wife’s door to tell her to stop the call.
Finally, BP claims that if you drop a mobile phone, a spark can be produced when the batteries are knocked loose and this could be
hazardous because of the flammable vapours produced by petrol products.
So why is this relevant? Well, it’s just been announced that Paypal and Shell have teamed up to roll out mobile payments to petrol pumps across the UK from April.
When filling up their cars at any of Shell’s 1,000 UK petrol stations, drivers will be able to pay directly on their smartphone using
either the Shell motorist app or the PayPal app. After driving onto the forecourt, the customer selects the corresponding pump on the app by scanning a QR code – not quite sure how you do this while sitting still in the car though, because we are told this is an ‘incar-
only’ experience for safety reasons. The app then authenticates the transaction and the customer can fill up and go. When refuellingis complete, a receipt is automatically sent to the phone, letting the customer drive away knowing the transaction was a success.
The technology was trialled in 2013 and members of the Shell Drivers’ Club will be able to try a pilot service in April, before the system is rolled out nationwide late this year.
Plenty is written about the ‘myth’ of the mobile phone and the petrol forecourt. But no one until now seems to have told the petrol
retailers. It will be interesting to see how the person behind the till seeing me on my phone decides if I am making a call, sending a text or trying to find the QR code to pay the bill!
The Energy Institute in conjunction with Intellect, the trade association for UK IT, telecoms and electronics industries, conducted a study into the ignition risk of flammable vapours from mobile phones. The main conclusions were that:
- There were no confirmed ignition incidents associated with mobile phones anywhere in the world.
- Mobile phones, although not specifically designed to standards as ‘protected equipment’, pose a negligible ignition risk, and one that is far less than other ignition sources on a fuel forecourt.
