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.

DH & I were both reminiscing on the benefits last time we had this scare (the big blockades, which no one had to announce or voted on, and which could have gone on indefinitely, as many of the blockaders had no direct loss of income by blockading). The roads emptied out & everyone drove much more slowly. It became a pleasure to use the roads again.

How often do most people usually fill up? I am thinking every 2 weeks is about average, so most of the panic-buyers will be down to half a tank next week, the very earliest an actual strike will start. Do we have word on how long strike is supposed to go on for? Indefinite or time limit? Folk who fill up once a week will be unaffected, they may as well continue as normal. Folk who fill up every 3 weeks or less also should also just continue as normal. "Should"=rational choice, mind, not that folk are bothering to be rational now.

Fuck me, I decided I had to crack. I have to make a journey of over 200 miles tomorrow. I've pre paid the hotel and dinner and we're all looking forward to it. I don't want to throw that money away.

Boy am I glad.

I had to go to 6 petrol stations. The previous five were either closed completely or had run out of diesel. I asked at the open one when they'd get the next delivery and he said on Monday!!! I said that seemed oddly long, but he said the stockist had made so many extra deliveries today, they've run out. I only hope that the closed ones get overnight deliveries.

I finally found one with diesel and filled up at six and when I drove past the same one at nine thirty is had closed.

ragged people who need vans etc for work fill up far more often than that!

I fill up every 3 weeks and I've just driven to 6 different petrol stations to get diesel at 10.30 at night. There are about 100 cars queuing at Tesco so I drove to a town 3 miles away, driving past the others that were either closed or out of fuel.

It will be even worse tomorrow.

Precisely why I bit the bullet at 2pm today, knowing I needed to fill up tomorrow and will need to fill up again on Sunday. Tomorrow and Saturday will be the difficult days. Sunday will be better and I think things are likely to be fairly ok come Monday / Tuesday as people will have full cars and the system starts to catch up with the change in buying habit. (Hopes)

Yes well I ahve heeded the "don't panic" message and am going to try to fill up today. I have a feeling I may regret waiting.

Stopped at a petrol station last night that didn't have any queues. It had run out of any unleaded petrol. This is in a City. Absolutely ridiculous. We don't even know if there is going to be a strike yet.

Will actually need petrol soonish - by Sunday/Monday, but both DP and I have agreed that unless we really need to, we won't add to the panic by joining queues for petrol.

There was panic buying of things like nappies & sanitary towels back in 2000.
Since we hear so much about panic-buying, why don't we hear about panic-conservation measures, too? Why aren't we hearing about people cancelling holidays, taking extra time off work, cancelling hair dressing & manicure appointments? Why haven't sales of bicycles soared? Why indeed haven't queries on lift sharing websites soared?

My car costs somewhere between 44 & 66p/mile to move, so I have to minimise use anyway.

HOW MUCH per mile??????????

I'm getting 9p per mile.

I am going to take the attitude that if anyone cares to criticise my decision to go away this weekend as not a valid reason to carry on with normal life and not loose the £200 we've already paid, I shall be wondering what car they drive.

yanbu, feel worried too. need a tank a week and usually fill up at weekend or Monday morning when it is saying 'no miles left'

what sort of vehicle can you tax and insure and fuel (and MOT if applicable) and renew tyres at only 9p a mile?

ragged I think there's a huge difference between people cancelling nail appointments (although of course nail bars will quickly go out of business without their quick turnaround of clients) and cancelling their family holiday which will cost them thousands of, non refundable, pounds and which they've been looking forward to all year...

I think trying to minimise why people need to fill their cars up is at best unimaginative, at worst lacking in any empathy. Last night, as we waited I was chatting to an electrician who said he has to fill his car up every few days. He can't really carry his tools on a bike can he? And if he has to cancel jobs he simply doesn't get paid. I don't knowif you've ever been self employed but you can't just have time off. Well you can, but you won't be able to pay your rent.

All the petrol stations in our area are empty now. They were fine yesterday morning. I have half a tank but DH is nearly empty so looks like we'll be having a quiet weekend.

The media coverage is all about how people are buying more petrol sooner, but there isn't much about what people are doing to reduce petrol consumption or mitigate the effects of not having any. Of course, that doesn't mean people aren't doing it, within reason. It's just not as interesting for the newspapers.

But I do feel sorry for people whose businesses are going to suffer unnecessarily and really hope the effects don't last into the bank holiday, it's the last thing a lot of them need right now.

I've just heard on the radio news that they have said they won't strike over easter anyway, pending more talks with the union.

I took dd3 with me at 8 am this morning and went to two before finding a third that had diesal. Whilst I was filling up they were marking most of the pumps as out of diesal. We desperately want to visit our newborn niece tomorrow and I've now got enough to get us there - not sure about back but surely things will have calmed down tomorrow and of course more deliveries will take place. I'm really angry about this situation, there is no need for this at all and the panic is completely the bastard governments fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh and my local paper has a story with a woman seriously burnt whilst decanting petrol in her kitchen - with the GAS cooker lit. Truly the stupidity of the British public is epic.

Well, I personally blame Kay $%^&ing Burley. I switched on Sky on Wednesday in the afternoon and she was almost in a fit screaming about queues forming around the country and petrol stations running out. I had no choice but to join the frenzy as I was already driving on yellow light. I filled my car completely (as I always do), but I did not have to do it yesterday, I normally wait to pass by the station as I am out and about.

Not on this occasion though...

That poor woman got 40% burns, yes it was a daft thing to do but who hasn't done something stupid that could have turned out much worse, I know I have been daft enough to forget to strap DD into the car properly and that could have turned out so bad even in a small accident. Hope those panic mongering Tory bastards are proud of themselves, if anyone blows themselves up because of stored petrol they will have blood on their hands.

I heard about that woman this morning, awful :(

it is a there but for the grace thing for me really, not so long ago a cigarette end that I threw out of car window came back in and landed on the petrol can behind my seat - that is probably not even my stupidest moment, just the closest related one

I don't understand why everyone is blaming the Government? One minister said a stupid thing which was immediately retracted - in fact the retraction has had more coverage than the original comment, so anyone not getting the message has only themselves to blame.

The fuel shortages are being caused by people filling their cars when they don't need to, or filling up their cars 'just in case', or by twunts filling as nany containers as they can get their hands on. The one thing that is definitely not causing shortages is the Government or the fuel companies. Because of stupid and selfish people panicking, those who genuinely would be filling their tank up over the next couple of days are being forced into doing it earlier or face having no fuel in their tank.

I am definitely not blaming the Government for this fiasco, I'm putting the blame firmly where it lies, with those selfish fuckers who are going to the fuel stations unnecessarily and making life difficult for everybody else.

Oh God, the story about the woman who was burnt is on BBC now. How terrible, but really how stupid to be decanting petrol in the kitchen while the oven was on. Apparently the vapours caught fire which caused the woman to drop the jug full of petrol she was holding which also caught fire and she was "engulfed" (according to fireman)

Over to you Francis Maude. Wriggle your way out of this one you twunt.

There's nothing to panic about.

No strike has been announced.

IF a strike is announced - they must give 7 days notice.

IF it goes ahead, the army have been trained up to deliver fuel.

IF fuel is limited and must be rationed, it will go to those who need it most (essential services, essential staff) and the rest of us will have to deal with it.

I really doubt an employer could justify disciplining or firing staff who are unable to get to work. (actually unable, not 'not prepared to walk 2 miles' unable)

There's just no point worrying about something that a) hasn't even happened yet and b) you can do nothing about if it DOES happen.

oh yes, I've just been reading about that, head.

The first of many, I suspect. Although I hope not, obviously.

Well I picked up a new car yesterday with no fuel in it so I figured if I was going to have to go out of my way to find somewhere with fuel so I could get it home and then spend ages queueing up I may as well fill it to the top save me wasting time having to go out of my way and queue up again in another couple of days - the petrol station closest to the garage was already shut and the next closest was only allowing people to top up with £5's worth of petrol at a time which wouldn't have even got me home.

My local filling station ran out Thurs night and was shut by 10pm, last night they were almost out and had started rationing by 8pm, they have clearly had a delivery overnight so were back open fully again this morning but at 8.30am queues were mental again not helped by the fact that all the surrounding stations are now shut due to having no fuel and not having had deliveries overnight.

Its absolutely ridiculous when no strike has actually been confirmed as yet. So glad I decided to fill up more than I would normally yesterday or I'd have been unlikely to get any fuel locally today meaning I wouldn't have been able to do the 20 mile (40mile round) trip to collect my son from school.

They don't strictly speaking need to strike now though do they? They have had their point more than proved. It's quite clear how much society apparently relies on them.
The government has stupidly inadvertently put Unite in a very strong negotiating position.

I am SO GLAD I sold my greedy 9mpg range rover, I would be spending all day every day queuing for fuel at the moment