No Talking At The Gas Pump

Drivers filling up at BP Amoco stations will be seeing a new symbol at the pumps: a cellular phone with a slash through it.

The message: No cell phone use.

"This is not a ban - this is a precautionary warning," company spokeswoman Linda McCray said Thursday.

There is a risk that electronic impulses could start a fire, and while that risk may be slight, the company doesn't want to take chances, she said.

Cellular phone manufacturers have included warnings in owner's manuals for years indicating that under certain conditions, cellular phones could help generate sparks.

Chris Kelley, a spokesman for the National Petroleum Institute, there have been unverified reports of fires sparked by cellular phone use but no evidence that any occurred in the United States.

Still, he said, "prudence is probably the best policy."

Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, went further.

"There is no evidence whatsoever that a wireless phone has ever caused ignition or explosion at a gas station anywhere in the world," he said in a written statement.

London-based BP Amoco already has cellular phone warnings on its gasoline pumps in the United Kingdom and Australia. It plans to add them at its U.S. stations by the end of the year, and other oil companies, including Chevron and Exxon, have plans for similar warnings.

In Finland, cellular phone use near gasoline pumps is banned. And the Chicago suburb of Cicero, Ill., recently passed a similar law believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

Like no-smoking signs, BP Amoco's warnings will only apply to customers standing near the pumps. Those who disobey won't be asked to leave, McCray said.

Driver Jonathan McKnight, 41, of Bainbridge, Ohio, rolled his eyes when he was told about the warnings while he waited at BP station Thursday.

"I don't really know if there's much harm that can be caused," he said.