Department of Internal Trade says tiny shortfall in petrol was within allowable limits
PUBLISHED : 23 Dec 2023 at 04:00
The Department of Internal Trade has defended a PTT petrol station against an accusation from a motorist that it cheated him out of almost 30 millilitres of petrol.
The man said he paid the five-litre petrol price in full yet received 28 millilitres less than he paid for.
Wattanasak Sur-iam, director-general of the department, said on Friday that the amount was well within the law, which permits gas stations to have a 1% fluctuation of every five litres that a customer refills. This means that for every five litres of petrol, a customer may receive up to 50 millilitres less or more than they paid for.
“This is an international standard — so when the motorist complained that he did not receive the full five litres, such a complaint is common. Although it is not against the law, we have our teams regularly check if any station has violated the rule,” Mr Wattanasak said.
The matter drew public attention after a motorist, Ritdech Daengpradit, uploaded a video on TikTok complaining that a petrol station in Saraburi did not dispense the exact five litres of fuel. He paid the full amount, but when he measured it, the amount was 28 millilitres short.
@nuengruethaisukch #ดราม่า#ปั๊ม #ลูกค้าโวย#เติมน้ํามัน #ได้ไม่ครบ #เติมน้ํามัน #ขาด#ไม่เต็ม #ขอบคุณคลิปต้นทาง #เรื่องเล่าเช้านี้ #ข่าวช่อง3 #น้ำมันแพง#typ #tiktok #VoiceEffects ♬ แฉ็ง Feat.ป๋าเขียด ว้าวว้าว – ก้อย กินรี
He asked to measure it twice and on the second time, he received 4.75 litres, or 25 millilitres short.
In the clip, a staff member told the man that the station abided by the law.
Mr Wattanasak said the department acknowledges the issue and always inspects petrol stations nationwide to check if their measures are accurate.
He said department officials inspected 14,000 petrol stations with a total of 180,000 fuel dispensers during the first half of this year and found that 29 fuel dispensers in 14 petrol stations provided an amount of petrol a little over the purchased amount. However, 11 fuel dispensers in five petrol stations provided petrol at a much lower rate than the 1% rate.
The department took legal action against the five petrol stations and ordered the stations to fix the 11 fuel dispensers.
Since early this month, the department has beefed up the inspection in petrol stations nationwide, particularly outbound routes of Bangkok, as many people will travel to return home to provinces by car or public transport.