Flybe fuel leak at Aberdeen

[Ambient Sheep]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I used to write embedded software for a leading supplier of petrol station equipment.

Although there is in theory a miniscule risk of inductive sparking being caused by mobile phone usage, the real reason - well known within the industry at the time - that the ban was brought in was because many manufacturers' pumps could be made to skip readings or even be fully reset by someone holding a phone near them and making a call. Fill up with 50 litres, pay for 5... unsurprisingly, this was actually the main concern to the powers that be, given the tiny risk of a spark.

(Readers with long memories may recall that people with illegal "burners" (i.e. boosters) on their CB radio transmitters could pull off the same trick.)

Since the introduction of EMC regulations in the late 90s that covered electromagnetic immunity, I believe such tricks are no longer possible, which is why TPTB are no longer fussed about it - indeed, I heard an advert on my car radio today for a new phone app that allows you to pay for the petrol you've just taken while sat in your car...