In Australia the government is battling with petrol tax avoidance on a massive scale. Officials have responded with plans to increase taxes on paint-stripper and other easily available chemicals such as dry cleaning fluids and solvents that can be added to petrol. The tanker drivers puncture the pipeline and pump gasoline into their vehicles and then drive off, leaving fuel gushing out. Villagers then come in with their buckets and jerry cans Nigerian fire official Thousands of Nigerians have been killed or injured in recent years as a result of accidents related to pipeline tapping. Fires and explosions have become so common that fire services often do not turn up when called.
Normal practice is to turn off the supply and let the fires burn themselves out.
As many as 1,000 people died in a similar disaster near the Nigerian town of Jesse in 1998. In the UK, despite some claims of intimidation, protests against high fuel prices have been peaceful. Both tankers were set on fire by protesters who torched several metres of petrol-soaked bandages as a fuse leading to open tanker valves. One exploded and the other was then set on a collision course with the town's railway yard and petrol depot. The protesters were demanding the end to an 18 cents rise in petrol duty designed to curb South Africa's increasing reliance on expensively imported petrol.