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SCMP Reporter

WARNING signs at petrol stations around Hong Kong telling people not to use their mobile phones while filling up may be a case of smoke without fire.

 The advice appears to be based on an urban myth about a case that most experts agree probably never happened.

 Oil companies told the Sunday Morning Post they had heard reports of an Australian man being blown up recently when his phone rang as he was filling his car with petrol - but fire service heads in Australia insist the incident never happened.

 There are also sporadic rumours on the Internet of explosions at petrol stations abroad, but none has been confirmed.

 There is even confusion over what the supposed danger of mobile phones is.

 Some worriers say if a handset is dropped it can cause a spark and ignite petrol fumes.

 Others say electro-magnetic radiation can somehow react with petrol vapour.

 Yet, despite the lack of any hard evidence, signs are posted at hundreds of petrol stations telling modern motorists that their phones could be killers.

 Caltex spokesman Albert Kwok Pui-ming said he had heard of the 'tragedy' in Australia, and warning signs at the pump had gone up about three months ago.

 'If the phone is functioning properly it won't be a danger, but as a precautionary measure we ask people not to use them,' he said.

 'We have to put safety as our primary concern.'  Esso's Grace Wong said its signs went up about a year ago as an 'appropriate and prudent way to ensure safety'. She said camera flashes were a similar risk.

 Irene Chan Man-tuen at Shell Hong Kong said its signs had been up for five years.

 'Nothing's happened - it's just a precautionary step,' she said.

 'I think there's more of a danger when crossing the road. The Government says it's quite safe.'  Ms Chan said she too had heard of an accident in Australia recently, but Fire Services Department spokesman Francis Ma Kam-biu said checks with firefighters in Australia had established there was no such incident.

 Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who was recently asked by a legislator about the issue, said: 'According to information from the fire services of other countries, mobile phone manufacturers and overseas oil companies, no such accident has happened in any overseas petrol-filling station.'  But even Fire Services is playing it safe; Mr Ma said it was 'very unlikely' a phone would cause a fire, but oil companies were advised to ask customers to switch off their mobiles.

 Shell's Ms Chan said she had heard that the alarm was only an urban myth, but the company wanted 'to minimise any possibility'.



Petrol stations' phone warnings don't ring true