Forecourt fear
Question: My mobile phone company insists that, for safety reasons, I should
switch off my phone when I’m in a petrol filling station. What could happen if I
forgot to do so—and how real is the danger? Have any incidents actually
been caused by mobile phones in filling stations?
Answer: There is a small but real danger in using a mobile phone at a petrol
filling station. The batteries that are used in the phone can deliver enough
power to ignite petrol, diesel or liquefied petroleum gas vapour and the ringer
(usually a piezoelectric device) uses more…
