[dj1015]

This woman probably was to stupid to realise how flammable petrol is. Even the fumes of petrol can ignite, thus causing the liquid to ignite.

To be honest, she should be grateful to be alive....

[ras90]

(Original post by shj)
Tragic injuries aside... isn't it illegal to store more than the tiniest amount of petrol on your premises? It was ill-thought-out advice on Maude's part in almost every possible way really.

You are allowed 2-4 cans depending on what the cans are made from.

[Bellissima]

(Original post by LeeC)
Panic mode? Are you saying this woman was panicking about petrol so much that she forgot it was flammable, rushed into the kitchen and filled up her jerry can as fast as possible?

They didn't give out dangerous advice, they told the public to store petrol in a jerry can, there is some danger but it's not dangerous if you follow simple safety advice that everybody knows. My bet is that she knew it was flammable, she just thought she would get away with it.

no, i'm saying everyone is worrying about not having enough petrol for whatever reason they need to use their car.. so are stocking up by keeping their tanks topped up, like the government advised. this woman (among many others i'm sure) also decided to fill up a jerry can to keep stock at home, like the government advised, which IS dangerous, the government should not advise the general population to mess around with petrol at home. they could have said "do not bring it in the house" or "do not store in anything other than a jerry can".. in which case the woman would be to blame for ignoring safety instructions, but they didn't. the government should not encourage the general public to do dangerous things without safety warnings.

of course she knew petrol was flammable, i think everyone does! however like i said, UNDERESTIMATED the risk of petrol and thought as long as there was no flame/cigarette around the liquid it would be fine. she didn't think/know about the flamability of the vapour. there are stupid/ignorant people in britain, not everyone knows about this stuff. the advice the government gave was dangerous, they shouldn't have done it.

[Bellissima]

(Original post by AlmostChicGeek)
No. Just no. It was the woman's fault, not the governments, that she underestimated the dangers of petrol. The state can't just babysit you your whole life, she is an adult and should have known that petrol is dangerous, kids do for goodness sake. She has to take responsibility for her own stupidity.

it's not about babysitting, it's about not advising people to do dangerous things without giving safety information, even BASIC safety advise like "do not bring in house" or "do not store in anything other than jerry can".
adults can be stupid or ignorant too.

[goape]

*BREAKING NEWS* Man trips over and hurts himself *BREAKING NEWS*

[Good bloke]

(Original post by isitinyet?)
would she have been filling up the can if the government hadn't issued advice saying to stock up?

Yes, see below. And read the link in the OP.

(Original post by Bellissima)
this woman (among many others i'm sure) also decided to fill up a jerry can to keep stock at home, like the government advised,

Well, no, she wasn't. The article linked in the OP makes it quite clear that she was trying to transfer previously stored petrol to her daughter's car, which had already, or was about to, run out of petrol. It is nothing to do with stockpiling against the efffects of any future delivery drivers' strike, or with following government advice.

[marcusfox]

If she had not existed, it would have been necessary to invent her.

[Annie72]

(Original post by Aj12)
Pretty sure it would be common sense not to be transferring petrol in your kitchen, apparently near an open flame too or how could it ignite?

It is her fault. You can't blame the government for her own idiocy.

This

[Sovr'gnChancellor£]

(Original post by goape)
*BREAKING NEWS* Man falls off horse and hurts head. Labour calls for immediate general election. *BREAKING NEWS*

Tweaked.

You should have seen Sky news - it had all of the flashing yellow markers and whatnot...

[AlmostChicGeek]

(Original post by Bellissima)
it's not about babysitting, it's about not advising people to do dangerous things without giving safety information, even BASIC safety advise like "do not bring in house" or "do not store in anything other than jerry can".
adults can be stupid or ignorant too.

It is about babysitting, because everyone knows not to decant petrol in the kitchen with the cooker on. It is very simple really. To blame the government for this woman's idiocy is outrageous.

Of course they can, but then they should take responsibility for their actions rather than blaming someone else.

[InnerTemple]

I think the government are partially to blame. They took the unprecedented steps to cause panic even before the union had decided to strike. In doing this they caused petrol shortages and encouraged people to store fuel.

When the government initially advised people to store fuel, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) condemned the advice saying that it would "massively increase" the risk of fires and explosions and that "The general public does not properly understand the fire and explosion risk of storing fuel, even if it was done sensibly." The FBU recommended that the government withdraw it's advice - it did not. It is clear, therefore, that the government's advice was dangerous even for those who store petrol properly.

If the government had not made such a cock up, this would not have happened. While I appreciate that the woman's stupidity is an overwhelming contributing factor to this accident, she would not have had to do as she did if the government had acted sensibly.

[Good bloke]

(Original post by InnerTemple)
The FBU recommended that the government withdraw it's advice - it did not.

It did, and apologised.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17545258

[InnerTemple]

(Original post by Good bloke)
It did, and apologised.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17545258

A Tory MP on TV last night was still recommending that people store petrol - though in a smaller container.

At any rate, Maude's retraction (which seemed to only be concerned with the amount of fuel stored and not the storing of fuel itself) was too little too late - as a quote in the article said:

"Apparently he's now said [the jerrycan advice] was a mistake. I haven't heard him say that. I'm not sure whether the public have as well."

[nosaer]

I guess I'll be the first to wish her well then.

[meenu89]

She has no one to blame but herself really. Even I'm not that stupid decanting petrol in my kitchen, or anywhere else in my home.

[BeanofJelly]

This particular incident is not the government's fault as such, people have accidents with petrol all of the time.

However, it is unquestionably irresponsible for any political figure to encourage panic buying, or the bringing of petrol into people's homes - and I don't think its wrong for the media to link that advice to this story. Petrol is so extremely dangerous that it's handling outside of a petrol station should never be encouraged imo (without at least proper safety advice). Politicians of all people ought to comprehend the power of their words.

I hope this poor woman gets better soon, burns are a terrible thing to suffer with. She probably failed to realise that the vapours that arise from pouring petrol can ignite - this can occur at quite a distance and requires only a high enough temperature, not even necessarily an open flame. 5 minutes of thoughtlessness is all it takes.

I think that anyone who could say that someone deserves to suffer 40% burns for a moment of foolishness when they're trying to help their daughter... is either medically ignorant or should be ashamed of their unkindness.

[myblueheaven339]

I'd guess that the problem here was that she didn't realise quite how flammable petrol vapour is. That's where the real danger lies.

[joey11223]

Damn poor women...hopefully they're 1st or 2nd degree..but with someone being interviewed saying they saw a body lying on the ground on fire..doesn't sound good.

It's clearly not the governments fault that this women tried to pour petrol from a container without a spout into another container, all the while having her gas cooking hob turned on. However the fact is a lot of people lack common sense, especially when they're handling something they're not used to. Government ministers advising everyone to store a jerrycan of petrol to fill their car is irresponsible IMO because you're asking the layman to handle extremely flammable liquids which they have no experience of doing, so odds are you are going to get some accidents like this occurring.

[cl_steele]

theyre not the only ones blaming maude Lord Harris called on him to resign?! what a bloody disgrace all maude did was give a sensible bit of advice if some blithering idiot decides to decant a highly volatile liquid next to a lit gas cooker then it is entirely her fault ... unfortunate but still undeniably her fault.

[Good bloke]

(Original post by cl_steele)
Lord Harris called on her to resign?!

Francis Maude is a man.