Smoking in Petrol Station

keithclancy

Stopped at a station on the way to work this morning (Here in NL)

Parked up at the pump at 9.10am and there was a guy just after sparking up a fag outside the shop:

Just here:
http://goo.gl/maps/Dn71k

Standing at the bin at the front door.
I filled up (with Diesel) and as I was walking past I just said "Roken ist verboden hier" (Guy had Belgian plates)

He just ignored me so went in to pay and told the guy at the counter that there was someone smoking at the front door a few meters away from the pumps. Looked out at the guy smoking, said "Sorry I no understand"

I then repeated myself in Dutch, guy became all agitated and then said its 'normal' to smoke there.

I then asked why there was 'no smoking signs' everywhere, guy just said the amount it cost ignoring my question.
I paid up and left, as I was walking out yer man tossed his cigarette in the bin and walked back to his car.

Didn't really push the issue tbh, I just won't be going there again.

Tried to look up an e-mail address to send a complaint, but there is none and tbh I don't know if I can be bothered wasting my time to send a letter.

http://www.esso.nl/Benelux-English/contact.aspx

Would you bother going further with it ?
I know the chances of something going wrong are pretty low with Diesel, even Petrol, but this station has LPG Also.

djimi

Nothing puts the fear of God into me quite like smelling cigarette smoke in a petrol station...

Matt Simis

keithclancy wrote: »

I know the chances of something going wrong are pretty low with Diesel, even Petrol, but this station has LPG Also.

For those at the back of the class, Keith mentions this as if LPG were to leak, its heavier than air and invisible, so it gathers over time, undetected, in drains and holes etc.. the same type of places people throw cigarettes.

I commend your attempts to highlight the issue, though aside from asking to speak to the manager it doesnt seem like there is much more you can do.

When I started driving first, I went to a petrol station here in Mayo, an oul fella came out and filled up the car - all the while with a cigarette dangling off his lip.

Victor

Fire officer

ronan45

Very dangerous alltogether but not as dangerous as using your mobile phone while filling up, Now thats D A N G E R O U S :rolleyes:

keithclancy

Victor wrote: »

Fire officer

Good idea,

Just fired off an e-mail to the Fire Brigade in the jurisdiction where the station is.

snaps

keithclancy wrote: »

Good idea,

Just fired off an e-mail to the Fire Brigade in the jurisdiction where the station is.

I used to work for topaz, people used to smoke all the time on our forecourt, if you said anything to them some of the time you were told to "f" off. Even seen people stubb their cigs out on the pump and one time, when there was a spillage which was taped off, a guy jumped the tape, walking through the spillage, flicking a cig into it.
Also saw some horrific fires in service stations at training sessions, the most common one caused by static off clothes.

People just don't care, no cop on at all.

enda1

Not all Belgians speak Dutch. Not all Belgian reg cars are driven by Belgians.

ballooba

I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff like this in the Maxol on Baggot St Bridge in Dublin. I experienced a similar response when I reported someone smoking to the attendant before.

keithclancy

enda1 wrote: »

Not all Belgians speak Dutch. Not all Belgian reg cars are driven by Belgians.

True, myself I'm Irish driving a Dutch registered car, but to be fair:

A. He was more than Likely Belgian, driving on a short license plate, they keep those for life.

This type:


These ones were issued after 1973 until 2008 and stay with you for life, actually its usually a good indication that they've never done a driving test either

B. If you're smoking a cigarette on the forecourt of a Petrol station it's not rocket science to figure out what the person means.

C. Its more likely he'd speak Dutch since its about 3 hours drive away from the Walloon region.

Victor

enda1 wrote: »

Not all Belgians speak Dutch.

Yes, they do. They just won't admit it.

enda1

Victor wrote: »

Yes, they do. They just won't admit it.

No, they don't. I lived there for 4 years.

Solair

You could ask these guys for advice :

De Onderzoeksraad Voor Veiligheid (OVV)
http://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/en/index.php/sectoren/

They seem to be responsible for investigating issues of public safety, including explosions. Although, it looks like they are more likely to be responsible for investigating after a major incident, but I'm sure they'd tell you who to call in the local fire service or whatever.

Victor wrote: »

Yes, they do. They just won't admit it.

A lot of French-speaking Belgians (especially as you move further away from Brussels) speak Flemish in the same way that a lot of Irish people speak Irish i.e. they do it in school, and that's about as far as it goes.

The French-speaking media's enormous compared to the Dutch one, so you can quite easily live in Belgium (as long as you don't go to Flanders) without speaking a word of Dutch or watching Dutch-speaking TV, reading Dutch-speaking newspapers etc.

Brussels residents tend to be more likely to be fully bilingual though.

Victor

enda1 wrote: »

No, they don't. I lived there for 4 years.

Solair wrote: »

A lot of French-speaking Belgians (especially as you move further away from Brussels) speak Flemish in the same way that a lot of Irish people speak Irish i.e. they do it in school, and that's about as far as it goes.

The French-speaking media's enormous compared to the Dutch one, so you can quite easily live in Belgium (as long as you don't go to Flanders) without speaking a word of Dutch or watching Dutch-speaking TV, reading Dutch-speaking newspapers etc.

Brussels residents tend to be more likely to be fully bilingual though.

I think there can be a strong element of "No speak English" is such matters and that is what keithclancy was dealing with when both smoker and cashier knew well what the issue was.

I spent a week in Belgium, including a day trip that included Ieper and Mesen. http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Brussels,+Belgium&daddr=50.8507575,2.8855859+to:Mesen,+Belgium&hl=en&ll=50.822421,3.159943&spn=0.441576,1.352692&sll=50.798991,3.013687&sspn=0.2209,0.676346&geocode=FSTqBwMd3mZCAClnaMdz7aTDRzGnAnN4ZjqLwQ%3BFcXrBwMd0QcsACmVRbwPVs7cRzEVUoG9oiZNGQ%3BFVCYBgMdBjcsACkt30PUctHcRzECsYXYB87cug&mra=dpe&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1&t=m&z=10

When going from Ieper and Mesen I and another passenger made the mistake of speaking French to the bus driver. We both got the "No speak English French" routine when the driver knew perfectly well where we wanted to go. English was considered perfectly OK.

I then had an auld fella, the driver's mate, ask me was I a protestant. That was curiosity, the rest was bigotry.

meathstevie

keithclancy wrote: »

True, myself I'm Irish driving a Dutch registered car, but to be fair:

A. He was more than Likely Belgian, driving on a short license plate, they keep those for life.

This type:


These ones were issued after 1973 until 2008 and stay with you for life, actually its usually a good indication that they've never done a driving test either

B. If you're smoking a cigarette on the forecourt of a Petrol station it's not rocket science to figure out what the person means.

C. Its more likely he'd speak Dutch since its about 3 hours drive away from the Walloon region.

Driving tests have been in place for ages in Belgium.I don't think there's many drivers left in the country who purchased their licence without a test.

keithclancy

meathstevie wrote: »

Driving tests have been in place for ages in Belgium.I don't think there's many drivers left in the country who purchased their licence without a test.

They are still around, I know of one guy that has one

O/T but Belgium is terrible for following European rules.

E.G. They gave out just over 9000 licenses to Moroccan license holders .. where you can basically buy your driving license.

Ironic since the fécking EU sits in Brussels

Solair

keithclancy wrote: »

They are still around, I know of one guy that has one

O/T but Belgium is terrible for following European rules.

E.G. They gave out just over 9000 licenses to Moroccan license holders .. where you can basically buy your driving license.

Ironic since the fécking EU sits in Brussels

Belgium also has one of the worst road traffic death rates in the EU, way out of line with all of its neighbours and all other Northern European countries.

Frankly, I'm not sure what's going on there. Although I suspect that a lot of it comes down to almost all political activity centring around language laws to the point that nothing else gets done anymore.

enda1

Solair wrote: »

Belgium also has one of the worst road traffic death rates in the EU, way out of line with all of its neighbours and all other Northern European countries.

Frankly, I'm not sure what's going on there. Although I suspect that a lot of it comes down to almost all political activity centring around language laws to the point that nothing else gets done anymore.

It's really funny when driving from France to Belgium. You go from a 130 zone to a 120 speed limit zone. The road changes from smooth beautiful tarmac to concrete slabs and every car bar none speeds from ~130 up to 150+.

There's just no fear of getting caught in Belgium speeding. Then they've their hysterical yield to the right rule which catches everyone out every so often.

schnitzelEater

Just goes to show, smokers are jokers.

Solair

enda1 wrote: »

It's really funny when driving from France to Belgium. You go from a 130 zone to a 120 speed limit zone. The road changes from smooth beautiful tarmac to concrete slabs and every car bar none speeds from ~130 up to 150+.

There's just no fear of getting caught in Belgium speeding. Then they've their hysterical yield to the right rule which catches everyone out every so often.

Have a look at the stats there:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/observatory/historical_evol_popul.pdf

The graph in particular ranks them (based on 2011)

Safest:
#1 UK (32)
#2 Sweden (33) #2 Netherlands (33)
#3 Denmark (40)
#4 Malta (41)
#5 Ireland (42) (Ireland's ranking improved in 2012 btw)
#6 Germany (49)
#7 Spain (50)
....
....
#22 Belgium (77) !! (Sits between Estonia and Latvia)

Poland is the most dangerous place to drive in the EU at 109!

Ireland and Spain actually made excellent progress on road safety over the last 10 years.

Belgium's seriously in need of a boot up the rear on it though. That's really poor for a country that's nextdoor to NL.

France and Austria rate relatively badly compared to Northern Europe too (60-61 ratings) but still much safer than Belgium

Basically if driving in Belgium or Eastern Europe, keep your wits about ya!

keithclancy

enda1 wrote: »

There's just no fear of getting caught in Belgium speeding. Then they've their hysterical yield to the right rule which catches everyone out every so often.

That's in most countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic

The default give-way-to-the-right rule used in Continental Europe causes problems for many British and Irish drivers who are accustomed to having right of way by default unless otherwise indicated

smash

djimi wrote: »

Nothing puts the fear of God into me quite like smelling cigarette smoke in a petrol station...

Yea, it's a dumb thing to do but it ain't the movies. A cigarette will just go out if dropped in petrol. The smoldering tobacco isn't hot enough, I've tried it before. (Not in a petrol station)

enda1

keithclancy wrote: »

That's in most countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic

I know it's in most countries, but in most countries it doesn't apply to minor roads to major roads where there is a huge speed differential. There's always a yellow diamond to say to you've priority. It wasn't just me by the way who found this absurd, the French, Germans and Italians in work found the Belgian system alien and absurd.

Oafley Jones

smash wrote: »

Yea, it's a dumb thing to do but it ain't the movies. A cigarette will just go out if dropped in petrol. The smoldering tobacco isn't hot enough, I've tried it before. (Not in a petrol station)

Vapour igniting is the very real fear. Petrol as ever will just be the fuel after the ignition.

keithclancy

enda1 wrote: »

I know it's in most countries, but in most countries it doesn't apply to minor roads to major roads where there is a huge speed differential. There's always a yellow diamond to say to you've priority. It wasn't just me by the way who found this absurd, the French, Germans and Italians in work found the Belgian system alien and absurd.

Theres a few roads on the way to bruge with a central barrier and a turnaround bit in the middle where you leave on the overtaking lane and enter on the overtaking lane. :rolleyes: