Gas Station Accident. Advice needed.

[1exotic]

just sue them for the lols and get about $100,000

[SpuGen]

Originally Posted by 4444

Wtf, u likely cant sue successfully as she got out of car and that lead to her getting gas on her. Gas station has CCTV, won't hand it over, thus your word against theirs re: when and how gas was spilled

Sounds like ur mum is racist (re: gas station ethnicity/skin colour comment) - I have no sympathy for her

I really hate people - this kind of proves why, ignorant ppl who want to sue

My mom is racist, and ignorant?
That's all you got out of this?

I said to keep the thread clean. The only ignorant person here is you.
She said the "black guy" not "Nigger". She's not gonna take the time to get his name when she was just drenched in gas because of his negligence. Anybody else would've given a similar description, given the situation. It could've been the "White guy" or the "Chinese guy"

[SpuGen]

Went to the hospital, got checked out by the doctor to make sure her oxygen levels were okay.

Home now.

We're not looking for a payout. I don't even want to bother suing, and neither does she.
I just wanted to know where we stand legally.

Thanks to all the clean, helpful replies.

[murd0c]

Originally Posted by SpuGen

Went to the hospital, got checked out by the doctor to make sure her oxygen levels were okay.

Home now.

We're not looking for a payout. I don't even want to bother suing, and neither does she.
I just wanted to know where we stand legally.

Thanks to all the clean, helpful replies.

You won't get paid out and you won't get anything at all so don't waste your time as you have already said. This isn't the US and you are right she shouldnt of got out of her car and touched the nozzle since it's a full service station. Bet bet would be to complain and you will get a gift certificate out of it sadly.

[Lomac]

A few years back my mom was pumping gas at a station in the Interior when the hose separated from the nozzle and sprayed gas all over her and the car. She was soaked in fuel, but luckily it was one of those truck stop stations that had a shower and a trucker who was also fuelling up saw what happened and gave her a change of clothes.

Funny enough, when she talked to the owners of the gas station about the incident, she was basically brushed off and was told that she was lucky that she didn't have to pay for the extra gas that spilled after the hose detached from the nozzle.

[Mr.Money]

^ would have ski masked it & slap the fuck out of him.

[SkinnyPupp]

The part I don't get is, this doesn't work for me

- Mom handed her credit card to the attendant.
- Attendant set up the pump and walked away.
- Mom was standing by the pump.

Why was she standing by the pump? In the cold? At full service, why would you need to get out of the car at all?

[4444]

Originally Posted by SpuGen

My mom is racist, and ignorant?
That's all you got out of this?

I said to keep the thread clean. The only ignorant person here is you.
She said the "black guy" not "Nigger". She's not gonna take the time to get his name when she was just drenched in gas because of his negligence. Anybody else would've given a similar description, given the situation. It could've been the "White guy" or the "Chinese guy"

Why not refer to him as 'the attendant' - his skin colour means nothing

The gas was leaks due to his negligence, your mum got drenched through her negligence - she should have stepped away - by getting involved she has messed up any chance of retaining fault on the gas attendant/station

No ignorance here - why would you say Chinese guy, white guy, Black guy, I see no reason why to even mention their skin colour

Also, you could have chosen not to type 'black man' - clearly it didn't even cross ur mind

[SB7]

At least your mom wasn't with a group of male models at the station!

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by 4444

Why not refer to him as 'the attendant' - his skin colour means nothing

The gas was leaks due to his negligence, your mum got drenched through her negligence - she should have stepped away - by getting involved she has messed up any chance of retaining fault on the gas attendant/station

No ignorance here - why would you say Chinese guy, white guy, Black guy, I see no reason why to even mention their skin colour

Also, you could have chosen not to type 'black man' - clearly it didn't even cross ur mind

Seriously? This is an issue? It's merely a description of the person she dealt with. It's easier to pinpoint your source of contact if you have at least some sort of description (ie: short brown hair... or black skin... or a face full of acne... or something). Spugen's merely been relaying all the information he's been given. I'm pretty damn sure there was absolutely no hidden meaning or agenda by saying the following:

- "The black guy"(only description I got) walked in soon after, and said it wasn't his fault.

[sdubfid]

30 years ago this would be a story for the grandkids, now the first thing people think is lawsuit. Actually 30 years ago everyone would be smoking and burnt to death.



I just can't see how the nozzle can come out of the tank, turn 180 degrees and cover somebody from head to toe in gas.

[BrRsn]

I guess you could say that was a real ...




VOLATILE SITUATION!

[murd0c]

Originally Posted by sdubfid

30 years ago this would be a story for the grandkids, now the first thing people think is lawsuit. Actually 30 years ago everyone would be smoking and burnt to death.



I just can't see how the nozzle can come out of the tank, turn 180 degrees and cover somebody from head to toe in gas.

Sounds like the OPs mom got out of her car and took the nozzle out of the filler and the full serve clip was still on and fuel spilt all over. That's really the only logical thing that would happen since the nozzles have a pressure activated automatic shut off and would of turned out once the car was full.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by murd0c

Sounds like the OPs mom got out of her car and took the nozzle out of the filler and the full serve clip was still on and fuel spilt all over. That's really the only logical thing that would happen since the nozzles have a pressure activated automatic shut off and would of turned out once the car was full.

Exactly. That's why I pointed out she didn't need to be outside. She has probably never used a full service nozzle before - the self serve ones don't have that clip anymore. She probably pulled it out and got gas all over herself.

Also, gas nozzles just don't 'pop out' on their own generally. She would have had to pull it out, or maybe step on the hose. But again, why would she be out there in the first place?

The whole point of full serve is to eliminate this kind of thing. She didn't need to be outside her car, she didn't need to mess around with the nozzle... there is a reason Richmond is 100% full serve by law.

[rsx]

If the OP is telling the truth, then it doesn't matter whether the mom was standing outside by the pump. Despite, full service stations, I still stand outside, it gives me a chance to visually inspect tires, or new dings/scratches.

It could be that:
1. The mom took it out while the pump was still going
OR
2. It's a faulty pump

If you guys sue, then most likely the cctv will be used to check what really happened.

[iwantaskyline]

All I got out of this thread was Spugen's mom should have stayed in her car.

[Soundy]

Having contracted for several oil companies for the last 9 years (we do surveillance for Petro Canada in BC and Alberta, as well as some systems for Esso, Shell, Husky, etc.), I can tell you one thing they're REALLY big on is safety. It's gotten to the point now where we have to wear full PPE (steel toes, gloves, glasses, vest and hard hat) even if we're on-site to sit down and work on the computer.

A simple fuel spill is one thing... an incident where a nozzle doesn't shut off and dumps gas all over the place is another. A customer getting sprayed by a fuel nozzle that doesn't shut off SHOULD be considered VERY serious by the company.

Why was she standing by the car instead of sitting in it? Doesn't matter. There's no law says she MUST stay in the car. For that matter, I don't think there's any law saying she can't pump her own gas.

Why did she try to stop the pump? Because that's what any reasonable person would do if they saw gas spewing all over from a nozzle that didn't shut off and there was no attendant in sight. Whether she was effective or not is irrelevant - she saw a potentially hazardous situation and responded as almost anyone else would.

Hands up, any of you who would just sit there and watch it keep going if nobody was coming to deal with it. Imagine you're just sitting there minding your own business and you see the gas pouring all over... do YOU just sit there and watch it indefinitely until someone else comes to stop it? Anyone? Bueller?

No?

Didn't think so.

So what can she do? She should contact Chevron's safety people - check their Corporate Officers listing: Corporate Officers | About Chevron | Chevron

Moreso than the incident itself, they should be informed of the staff's and manager's response (or lack thereof) to the incident: someone standing around soak in gasoline is a MAJOR potential risk - maybe not directly from the gasoline, but if anything should ignite it... hell, on construction sites, once the fuel tanks have been stocked, we're required to go off-site to use our phones, just because 15 years ago there was maybe a slight chance with a few cell phones that something might ignite fumes (Snopes says there've never been confirmed reports of fumes being ignited by phones.)

Will she get money or free gas out of it? Probably not. Most likely all she'll get out of it is a profuse apology and the moral satisfaction that everyone working there at the time of the incident will get smacked down, and all staff will probably have to go through some kind of safety seminar.

[SkinnyPupp]

What would she sue for anyway? Getting her clothes dirty? Being embarrassed?

[SupraTTturbo2jz]

i think she handed the black attendant her credit card, stood outside watching the pump and tried to stop the pump because it was going over the price she wanted instead of letting it fill all the way. Who knows, asian moms always exaggerate their stories or the stories they tell you are mislead totally. Asian man at work tells me a huge bus crash in vancouver but what he meant was that the bus was from vancouver and crashed in oregon or something.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by murd0c

Sounds like the OPs mom got out of her car and took the nozzle out of the filler and the full serve clip was still on and fuel spilt all over. That's really the only logical thing that would happen since the nozzles have a pressure activated automatic shut off and would of turned out once the car was full.

The automatic shutoff DOES fail from time to time. Sometimes the mechanism is faulty... sometimes the way the fuel is flowing in the filler tube, it just doesn't trigger the mechanism properly (there's a small hole in the bottom of the nozzle; the mechanism operates on vacuum - when the fuel comes up around the nozzle, the vacuum drops, and the thing shuts off).

OP says "Pump shot out, and my mom tried to stop it because the attendant was nowhere in sight." - given standard RS Engrish, that could mean the nozzle fell out on its own (also possible if the hose is stretched), or that it was simply overflowing and the gas was "shooting out" as it kept pumping into a full tank.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by 4444

Why not refer to him as 'the attendant' - his skin colour means nothing

Sometimes skin colour can mean nothing more than an adjective. I think we can all agree here that the lesson to be learned is that it doesn't mean that we too can't not die in a freak gasoline fight accident.

[ziggyx]

Originally Posted by SupraTTturbo2jz

i think she handed the black attendant her credit card, stood outside watching the pump and tried to stop the pump because it was going over the price she wanted instead of letting it fill all the way. Who knows, asian moms always exaggerate their stories or the stories they tell you are mislead totally. Asian man at work tells me a huge bus crash in vancouver but what he meant was that the bus was from vancouver and crashed in oregon or something.

Don't the gas pumps in richmond have a setting or option to pre-set the amount of fuel/price?

Whenever I filled up in richmond the gas attendant asks how much, sets it and walks away. It automatically stops on its own. Unless it was broken?

Either way, whatever happened, I agree with what Soundy said.

[smoothie.]

I don't get why she was standing by the pump.

I don't get how she was covered in gas.

I....

I'll stop.

[dlo]

Contact Ray Lord, hes the spokeperson and PR of chevron, had to do an interview with him and he is really professional. He can resolve ur issue, im quite sure.
Chevron in Canada - Contact Us is full of contact information.

[Soundy]

BTW, as for the suggestion to "get the tapes"...

The station is not going to hand over video footage (all digital these days, BTW; no tapes) to any customer that asks for it. What they MIGHT do is review the footage themselves to see whether the customer's complaint is warranted. More likely, if a complaint is made to higher-ups, THEY may (have somoene) go to the station to extract video of the incident, if any exists.

Even if video supports the station's side of the story (I see this a lot for things like car wash damage, where someone claims their car was damaged and the video proves otherwise), it's rare for the station to actually show the video to the customer - they would just say, "We've reviewed the video and the damage was there when you drove in/wasn't there when you drove out."

The only exception I can think of, in 9+ years of doing this, is a case where I was making a service call to replace a camera, and a woman came in claiming her car had been stolen from the street in front of the station and asking if someone could call the police. Since I was there anyway, I asked here where it had been parked and how long she'd been parked there... I checked the cameras, and lo and behold, the spot was visible in the background of one of the pump cams.

Going back through the footage, we saw her park, then walk past the door of the store going right to left... we watched the car until we saw someone approach it, get in, and drive off... except it looked like the same woman. Backing up a little bit, we watched he walk past the front of the store left-to-right, go get in her car, and drive off.



IN THAT CASE, we showed her the video of the entire process, at which point she clued in to what had happened: turned out, she'd got in, driven a couple blocks up the street, gone to another store... then forgot she'd moved the car, gone back to where it was parked before, and panicked when it wasn't there. She apologized all over the place and went on her way, and the manager and I had a good chuckle over all the excitement.