Transients in the mains supply of a gas station in the USA (called a petrol station in the UK) caused the spurious switch-on a microporcessor-controlled toaster one night after staff had all gone home. Since the microprocessor wasn’t in its normal programme, it didn’t switch the toaster off. The manufacturer of the toaster had omitted to include a thermal fuse, so the gas station caugt on fire adn burnt down. The PCB had been designed by a UK company, and its designers were later questioned intensely by a team of US lawyers for several hours. (Anonymous, private conversation, August 1994) Taken from “The First Five Hundred ‘Banana Skins,’ complied by Keith Armstrong.
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