A petrol station on Dublin’s Usher Quay has been fined for using dodgy pumps that said they were giving you more fuel then they actually were.
Have you ever had the suspicion that the pump is leaving you a little short-changed? Well, if you happened to be filling up on the Quays then you may have been.
The first successful prosecution of a petrol station for using dodgy pumps that “under-measured” the fuel they produced has been brought against the Top Oil service station on Usher’s Quay. According to a report in the Irish Times, Top Oil, trading as One Oil, was charging €1.80 on a standard 50-litre fill.
So basically, the pumps told you that you were getting 20 litres when in fact you were getting less, yet you were still being charged for the 20 litres.
Inspectors visited the site back in August 2010 and again in February 2011 after receiving a number of complaints. The station supposedly fixed faulty pumps after the August inspection, however in February the pumps were found to have broken seals and were “significantly under-measuring petrol and diesel being sold to consumers”.
According to the Irish Times, following yesterday’s court case, a spokesman for the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) said that inspectors had recently revisited the service station and found that the new fuel pumps were now correctly calibrated.
So there you have it. Next time you get suspicious about being short-changed at the pump, you may well be.
