This is a hoot. The above orange American Eagle tank arrived from the USA this morning. The first words from my Indian Australia Post parcel guy Sunil '' This one smell very strong Mr Firkin'' drew my attention. I then noticed that it had both Australia Post and Australian Customs tape on it, indicating that it'd been opened and inspected at both points in its journey. Upon opening the box I was overpowered by the strong smell of petrol. The tank was wrapped in what seemed like a whole roll of Glad Wrap and as I said, stunk of petrol. After removing the glad wrap I opened the petrol cap and discovered that it had
about 2 litres of petrol still in it !After 911 we've become accustomed to increased security and customs requirements including the stipulation that fuel tanks must be flushed and have no hint of petrol or flammable liquid. I've sold a couple of tanks to the USA and gave them a great old flush out just to be sure. This tank with its 2l of stale, smelly petrol has been through,
USPS on local and International distribution centre levels, US Customs, Airline ground staff in both countries, Australian Customs, Australia Post on a couple of levels and has been opened and inspected twice yet it still got through to me with petrol in it It's funny that the parcel posty was concerned enough to notice the smell of petrol in his van forcing him to consider taking the parcel back to the office, yet it had passed two inspections here in Australia.
I'm glad I got my tank but I'm a bit worried that the ''system'' doesn't seem to be working.