to be particularly worried about this fuel strike?

[StealthPolarBear]

Don't know why but it's making me feel very anxious. We managed through the last 2 so I don't know why it feels like this one will be different but it feels as though it will go on for longer and be more disruptive.

worldgonecrazy Do you just use veg oil from the supermarket? I have looked into biodiesel before for my 2002 car as I thought it might work out cheaper but DH says it corrodes the pipes so won't even think about it

saltire he's probably right. I never trust the garages when it comes to prices. The garages around here seem to put the price up by 2 to 3 p at pay day then drop it in the middle of the month because they know most people fill their tank completely when they get paid. Also if we travel 20mins to the nearest city the fuel is 5p cheaper

No work or school for us for the next 2 weeks, just a baby due to make an appearance so will probably fill up when needed, in the next day or two, and watch the panic.

I drive diesel, could always hijack the chippies oil if need be!

saltire your son may have a point

My friend had a biodiesel people carrier , Im not sure how they work however she used to buy big bottles of veg oil from the supermarket ,

It's spin. A good way to get the Budget and rampant cuts off the front pages. And the G'ment want the public to sympathise with them, not the workers / Unions so have to make people scared & pissed off at the strike & how it will affect them.

Imho.

Exactly ifancyashandy the conservatives hate unions and they want us to hate unions too

Well slap my arse and call me a mug but I've been panicked enough into filling up this morning - at a cost of nearly £100

My problem is, DH and I both have next week off work to have some days out with the DC. The weather is looking like it's going to be good, so we were planning on going to the coast, maybe a theme park somewhere, etc - all of which needs petrol. DH gets hardly any holidays and mine are unpaid as SE, so we want to make the most of it.

Feel like I've just blown my dullest £100 ever though

All it does is make me hate the ConDems even more. So epic fail there!

Spin?.... The government is in a no win situation. If they keep quiet and deny there is a problem we would all be furious and accusing them of keeping us in the dark when the pumps run dry. If they mention the possibility of the strike and advise us (pretty wisely) to top the car up people accuse them of encouraging panic buying and 'spin'.

There is no strike, there is no fuel shortage. I do wish politicians would refrain from making stupid bloody comments and the media would stop trying to whip everyone up into a frenzy. There is only the threat of a strike and that might or might not happen. And if it does, the army are being taught to drive fuel tankers so fuel should still be able to be transported. If people would only kep their heads, their would be no problem. Grrrrr.

Fancy - gosh, who do you support then given the strikes a decade ago when different people were in power?

I'm moderately more worried than the last time, in view of the fact that we didn't have a car in 2000.

At the moment though the tank is 3/4 full (filled up last week when it was empty, not because of hint of strike) and should last another 2/3 weeks.

Anyway, several points:

• No date has been set for a strike, it may well not happen at all
• The Govt are using this to cover up their general ineptitude & other stuff they want people to forget - demolishing the NHS, corruption, fucking up the Budget
• Talk is all about panic buying - how about reducing usage? Ok some people have to use their cars for vital journeys, but surely lots of optional journeys could be done by other means or not at all? When petrol got up to £1 a gallon (quite a long time ago - 70s I think) my mum and dad took the car off the road for a year as they thought it was such a ridiculous price and refused to pay it!

Please forgive me, i've had my head stuck in the sand books for the past week and haven't taken any notice of what's been going on at all.

What strike? when? why?

OK I think the main focus of my panic is that my tank would only las two journeys into work for me (which isn't as bad as it sounds, I only do the round trip once a week). I am on a temp contract so while I agree no ones going to get the sack "just" because of the fuel protests, it could be the difference between being kept on and not. Dh has recently got a new job, same company so plenty of goodwill, but it's up to him to keep it running andc he will struggle to do it fro home.

We used normal vegetable oil from the supermarket - some people thin it down with a bit of white spirits. When we could get it we used pre-used vegetable oil from the chippy, filtered of course, to remove particles. Used oil is thinner.

If you're running only on biodiesel then you need to treat it properly, but a couple of litres mixed with ordinary diesel was fine in our 2006 car.

There's lots of information on the internet about how to do it, and if you're using less than 1,000 litres a year I believe there is no need to declare it to HMRC either.

Francis Maude said the strike could cost lives, because he couldn't resist an attempt to turn public opinion against the potential strikers. He said people should fill up jerry cans to be prepared because he was trying to engender some sort of Blitz spirit amongst the Daily Mail readers. Idiot.

There doesn't even have to be a strike now for there to be shortages at petrol stations, the government's idiotic comments, together with media hysteria, have made it a self-perpetuating problem now. People are being forced to change their pattern of fuel-buying, because other people have. With a different pattern of fuel sales, petrol stations will run out, albeit temporarily until they can get another delivery, and they will put their prices up due to increased demand.

I was down to my last 50 miles so had to get some today, I considered filling right up but decided to just get my usual £40 quid's worth. I decided I wouldn't change my behaviour. There were no queues in my area and the price seemed no higher than usual so I'll take my chances for now.

However, if I had planned to take a family trip to the coast next week, or I had a baby due, or I suspected my boss would hold it against me for allowing myself to run out, I would keep my tank full because I couldn't afford to take the chance.

the Union will have to give 7 days notice if there is a strike, and that will be enough warning for almost all of us to make decent contingency plans. Lots of hype otherwise.

what delia was to cranberries - this minister is to petrol!! Shame they cant apply the same principles to job creation/rebuilding the economy......

I'm very worried. My extended family and I (5 cars full) are holidaying in Devon from this Saturday, 300 miles from home. Whilst we may all GET there, getting back may be a VERY different proposal!

Ragged I didn't know that about the notice. So we can assume there won't be a strike in the next week. That's reassuring

So the petrol price rises (again) as garages put the price up to get the money in. the Govt. gets the extra duty on the extra money and because the cars are driving around with extra fuel the cars are now using more fuel due to the excess weight req. us to 'fill up' more often. How convenient for the Govt. and fuel companies. To cope with the demand, the drivers will prob.get offered overtime (that's just my opinion) and there might not even be a strike! Wonder what would happen if it was suggested that baked beans and condoms were not going to be available?

As luck would have it my car is used to running on optimism and a following wind . I absolutely hate hate hate with a passion filling up and am the Queen of Procrastination as l sail past the petrol station on my last miles worth of reserve. But for some reason l thought l would fill her up completely the other night before the queues started so l am ok for about two to three weeks.

I think it odd that the government think that people keeping their cars filled up will help in a strike situation. Most people I know need to fill up once a week - so even if you have a full tank when a strike happens, a week isn't long at all. So really their efforts would be better placed in trying to avoid it than think everyone having a full tank is going to be any help at all for any meaningful amount of time. A foolish suggestion which will cause more problems than it solves I think.

Well I'm fairly anxious about that sort of thing can you tell? And all need to fill up every week, so my car is usually full.