Authorities in the southern province of Binh Duong have conducted inspections on petrol stations, and found that 13 out of the 40 they visited were violating fuel trading regulations.

Illustrative image. (Photo: Internet)

Five of the petrol stations were found to be violating measuring standards, said deputy head of the provincial.

"The remaining eight stations were found to be selling sub-standard fuel and posting incorrect prices," he added.

Last Thursday, authorities discovered that Doc Lap petrol station in Di An Town had rigged their pumps to con customers out of three per cent of their purchases, six times higher than the allowable margin of error.

It meant clients lost 0.3 litres of petrol for every 10 litres they bought at the station.

The team discovered that four out of the station's five petrol pumps had been installed with sophisticated software used to display incorrect data on the electronic tables.

The station is estimated to have swindled around VND600-700 (US$0.028-0.033) per litre of petrol by using the software.

"All petrol stations in question have been closed while authorities calculate the amount of money they have stolen," said Tung.

One petrol station was found to have tampered with pumps to the extent that customers were being cheated out of 10 per cent of fuel, every time they filled up their vehicles, he said.

The inspections, targeting nearly 350 petrol stations across the province, started in January this year.

Under current regulations, owners of these stations will be fined between VND20-30 million ($960-1,440), depending on the level of their infringement, and have their business licences revoked.

Source: VNS