Motorist complaints about gas pumps increase

Gas Pump Testing (Added: July 02, 2008)

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Motorist complaints about gas pumps increase

Carol Fulmer, Director of Consumer Services for the S.C. Dept. of Agriculture, left, talks about the steps that are taken to inspect a gas pump as Inspector, Edward Bauknight pumps gas into a container that measures the amount of gas pumped Tuesday in Columbia. With gas prices at record highs, South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said complaints from consumers about pump accuracy and other concerns have tripled in the last few months.

By: Matthew Robertson | Morning News
Published: July 02, 2008

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ Complaints from South Carolina motorists about gas pump accuracy have increased in the past year as prices have gone up.

State Department of Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said Tuesday that calls about gas pumps and other related issues to his agency have grown from about 50 in May 2007 to nearly 150 a year later.

Weathers visited a gas station Tuesday to demonstrate how his agency checks to guarantee the accuracy of the state's 64,000 gas pumps. He said inspections are done at random and by surprise.

Weathers said checks are done on all pumps at least once a year.

Weathers said he has seen no spike in noncompliant pumps as oil and gas prices increased in the past year.

Generally, he said, about 2 percent of the state's pumps are found to be inaccurate. The agency will shut down pumps until they're corrected.