Prepaying for gas a safety issue
Mandatory prepayment common elsewhere, but it’s not on Ontario’s radar
Mandatory prepayment at Ontario gas stations will save lives, says a family friend of a married father of two who died while trying to stop a gas-and-dash in Mississauga.
Hashem Atifeh Rad, 62, was killed May 19, 2011, when he tried to prevent the so-called “pump-and-run” fuel theft at the Petro-Canada station on the corner of Southdown Rd. and Truscott Dr. Abdullahi Mohamoud, who tried to flee after filling up $75 worth of fuel, was sentenced to 30 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and failing to remain at the scene of an accident causing death in the horrific incident that saw Rad, a gas station employee on shift that day, dragged and killed.
Jasmir Singh, a friend of the Rad family, is convinced his good friend would still be alive had there been mandatory prepayment, which requires customers to pay before filling up on fuel. “How many more people have to die?” he said. “This is about safety. It’s about life and death for these gas station workers.”
Prepayment is already mandatory in Alberta and British Columbia, the latter of which implemented the law after a man was dragged to death while trying to stop a $12 gas-anddash in 2008. The practice is also extremely common the U.S.
While this legislation has not been mandated in Ontario, gas retailers such as Husky say they are being proactive and requiring prepay transactions at all its stations across the province.
The theory behind mandatory prepayment, according to Husky, is that the chances of gas theft or disagreements over cost will be eliminated.
Lawrence Richler, Husky’s vice-president of Canadian products marketing, said Husky moved to prepayment for fuel after the loss of Surinder Pal Singh, who was cele- brating the grand opening of his Husky retail site in Edmonton when he was drawn into a dispute with a customer. He suffered injuries during the altercation which proved fatal.
“Surinder’s senseless passing shook all of us and challenged us to reaffirm our commitment to the safety of those working at our retail sites. While we were mitigating the risk associated with fuel payment, it wasn’t enough — we needed to eliminate it,” said Richler.
Erin Rees, a spokesperson for Suncor Energy, which runs Pe- tro Canada gas stations, said the safety of employees at the gas stations “is our top priority,” but didn’t commit to any plans to make prepay mandatory. Former Liberal MPP Mike Colle introduced a private member’s bill back in 2012 to make prepayment mandatory as a result of Rad’s death. But the bill never made it to law.
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services spokesperson Sue Carroll said in Ontario, the decision to require customers to prepay before refuelling lies with the business.