B.C. man warns motorists to keep an eye on the gas pump

Keep your eye on the gas pump.

That’s the message motorist Chris Bradford is passing along to consumers after he was overcharged at the pump at the Petro-Canada in Pitt Meadows back in January.

“I pulled the nozzle out, it wasn’t putting any fuel in and I looked back and the pump was still running, so I grabbed my phone and recorded what I saw,” Bradford said.

Bradford used his cellphone to record the price at the pump jumping from $119.99 to $120.15.

“Just because you’re done filling your truck doesn’t mean they’re done filling their wallet,” he said.

Bradford said he messaged Petro-Canada immediately after the incident and was told the matter would be investigated.

However, Bradford says he g ot the runaround until he contacted Global BC’s Consumer Matters on March 27.

“They didn’t want to be talking to me at all, but the minute you guys talked to them I got a phone call.”

A spokesperson for Petro-Canada’s parent company, Suncor Energy, told Global News:

“We want to be prompt in the resolution of any complaints and have taken corrective measures to prevent a recurrence of the disconnect that was experienced.”

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The spokesperson added that “the pump was inspected and re-calibrated as a precautionary measure; however, we did not receive any other reports of discrepancies from other customers.”

Regular inspections are required under the Federal Fairness at the Pumps Act.

According to Measurement Canada, the federal agency responsible for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of measurement in the Canadian marketplace, 10,999 gas pumps were inspected at retailers in British Columbia last year. Of these, 97 per cent measured accurately, while 3 per cent measured inaccurately – the same as the national average.

Of those inaccurate measurements, 72 per cent favoured the consumer, while 28 per cent favoured the retailer.

Energy analyst Dan McTeague of GasBuddy.com says while inaccuracy at the pump doesn’t happen often, perception is everything.

“It certainly doesn’t leave confidence in the system that provides an automatic pump providing you with what’s supposed to be accurate levels of litres dispensed,” he said.

“I think in large cities where the volumes of gasoline are dispensed should require perhaps more frequent inspection.”

Petro-Canada has apologized to Bradford, offering him a $100 Petro-Canada prepaid card as a goodwill gesture.

Bradford rejected the offer.