The Blue Buckets Society proposes to combat underfilling of gasoline at gas stations

Gas stations must be equipped with special counters to prevent underfilling. This proposal was made by the coordinator of the Blue Buckets society, Pyotr Shkumatov. He has already approached the Ministry of Finance with his initiative. According to Shkumatov, drivers constantly overpay for gasoline. Frauds are carried out at the software level. Pyotr Shkumatov answered questions from Kommersant FM host Pyotr Kosenko.

— I remember this problem was discussed at the end of the Soviet era, in the 1990s, then history somehow improved. Where do you get the information that the problem is really so widespread?

- Actually, I am one of those people who was deceived. And they deceived him quite cynically. At the gas station they filled the tank, which physically holds 60 liters, 70 liters. I called the police in order to deal with this, as it seems to me, problem of filling with “unusable” fuel.

— They shoved in something that couldn’t be shoved in.

“The main problem with gasoline is its quality”

- So, the owner of this gas station or the manager said that a tank is an elastic concept. And, unfortunately, neither the police nor anyone else could help me in this situation. Simply because a car is not a means of measuring the amount of fuel that goes into it. That is, the data shown by the arrow at the fuel indicator level in the fuel level navigator is not legally significant.

- Wait, Peter, I’m immediately ready to oppose you in a friendly sense, the whole point is that there is a technical specification specifically for each car, and since each car is certified in our country through government agencies, a car that ends up on our road cannot, if it is bought in Russia, without this permission. There, among other things, the volume of the gas tank is indicated.

- Yes, I thought so too until I was informed. By the way, the gas station manager was right, of course, a person who buys a car can modify his car at will. He can supply a tank of any other size.

- Again, I object - it cannot, moreover, if you make any interventions in the car at the level, for example, of the fuel system, brake system, even optics, you must obtain permission for this from special expert bodies.

— In fact, no one, of course, receives any permits. For example, equipping a car with gas cylinder equipment has become widespread, excuse the tautology, and, of course, no one receives any permits from anywhere. They simply place the gas cylinder in the trunk or on the roof.

- This is a natural history, especially since it is economical. Let's sum up everything that has been said. At this stage, do I understand correctly, it is impossible to legally prove that you were not topped up with gasoline in Russia?

- Absolutely. No driver can prove it legally - just legally. Of course, it’s clear from the fingers that 70 liters cannot be crammed into a tank that holds 60 liters. But it is impossible to legally prove that this happened.

— Peter, you sent your proposal to equip gas stations in the country with special fuel meters to the Ministry of Finance. We will leave aside the question of how ready they are for this standard, and how this will affect the cost of gasoline, because, naturally, gasoline sellers will include the conversion, if such a standard is introduced, into the cost of your gasoline. The question is different - that meter that is at every gas station, which counts out the liters filled for you, is not the same meter that we are talking about?

“It was the awareness of the fact that a person who has physical access to a fuel pump can connect to this meter and calibrate it in a completely arbitrary way, including online, as is now done using modified software, that prompted me to write this appeal. The fact is that these meters, which are installed on the pumps, are in no way fiscal. And what they show has nothing to do with reality.

- Your proposal is to install meters as they are for water at home, for electricity, for gas, sealed, from which readings are regularly taken, whose readings are an official document? Sorry, it’s not said very correctly, however, do I understand correctly?

- Yes. And on top of everything else, it is necessary to store the history of refueling on each such fuel machine. Why is it important? Because now, as soon as you hang the gun in place, the column forgets about how much fuel it filled you with. And then, if a conflict situation arises, it is not possible to resolve this issue, that is, go back and see how much, according to the dispenser, you have poured into the tank.

— I have no doubt that your idea will be supported by the overwhelming majority of car enthusiasts in our country, it is clear that even not adding 1 liter out of 50, let’s say, is already quite a significant amount of money, about 50 rubles. The whole question is whether the Ministry of Finance will agree with you and whether it will find arguments in favor of why this cannot be done.

“What the meters show has nothing to do with reality”