Drivers suggest use of transparent hoses

Some commercial and private car drivers in Accra have appealed to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to control cheating, under-serving and adulteration of fuel at some filling stations, and suggested the use of transparent hose.

In a survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency in Accra on “Customer Satisfaction at Filling Stations,” most drivers expressed worry about cheating at filling stations and said the act is on the increase: “We are calling on the NPA to immediately institute measures to check cheating at filling stations by changing fuel pumping machines. We need to see the fuel as it is pumped into our tanks,” Mr. Daniel Attah, a driver at the main Ho Lorry Station in Accra told the Ghana News Agency in an interview.

He said some of the filling station attendants sometimes adjust their machines, and added “most drivers are duped at the filling stations due to our inability to recognize it, and it is also difficult to prove our case”.

Mr. Isaac Adu, a commercial driver said; “I have had lots of bad experiences at filling stations with regards to cheating and adulteration of fuel. I am careful at which filling station to buy fuel.”

Mr, Enoch Mensah, a trotro driver at CMB, said he bought fuel sometime ago and his tank was filled with air and he did not notice it because he was in a hurry but when he realized he had been duped it was too late to go back to the filling station to complain.

Mr. Emmanuel Quansah, a driver at the same CMB lorry station, shared his experience with GNA saying he was also cheated several times and tried to solve the problem by changing filling stations.

Mr. Moses Quarshie, a taxi driver, said some filling station attendants had a way of pumping air into the fuel tank. Mr. Sam Aurther, a radio presenter, said he did not have confidence in the services of most of the private fuel stations because the first time he tried buying from one of them he was almost cheated.

He said, “When they punched the figure for you and you seem not to be looking at it, they quickly enter the last figure of what you have requested to buy and before you are aware the scale has seized.”