Calm Yourselves!

[HCHQ]

Just back from putting air in the car tyres and the queue into the forecourt for fuel was ridiculous.

Appreciate it doesn't help that the news bulletins start with" BP closes some petrol stations" and that nobody hears beyond this to "Asda, Morrisons and other supermarkets are saying they have no problems, as have other petrol companies.”

Just stop it.

'The thing about cars, is that you can only fill your tank. It's not like filling your shed with a year's supply of toilet paper.'

Exactly.

I fill up once week when I do my shop, but this week because dh had done a long journey and run the car out, I did it earlier in the week;.
Glad I did because the queue for the petrol station was out of the supermarket road.

I'd arrived an hour early for my click and collect and it wasn't in the van, so I suggested I profited on this panic buying by buying a can, filling it up and selling it for double the price to the people at the back of the queue. They found my shopping very quickly.

@Stellaris22 I'm a community nurse who visits patients in their own home to administer treatment, and use my car for this 4 days per week. How do you propose I become less reliant on my car?

@BIoodyStupidJohnson

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” — George Carlin

I absolutely love this

I must admit when I saw the news I was very glad that I filled up a few days ago and have almost a full tank. The only thing to give me a headache is to plan my routes avoiding the petrol stations so I don't get caught up in the traffic. 🤦‍♀️

@DGRossetti

Are the same people telling us not to panic the same people who told us there would be no tax rises if we voted Tory ? And that the pension triple lock wasn't going to change ?

You can't really blame people for not trusting them can you. In fact, I'd say if you did trust them you're a bit short on critical thinking.

Yes this is exactly my point. People don't trust the government anymore, if they did, they would listen and not do it. It has been well documented in the press that this would happen/is happening and people can see for themselves that there are supply issues, so what do people expect? People to run out of fuel and not work or take their kids to school (if they don't live in walking distance) but feel glad that they didn't fill their tank up just because someone might call them a panic buying idiot if they did. It doesn't matter what people think of people who are filling their tanks up, not having what you need to earn money and survive is far more important than a random person's opinion.

'just stop it'

ha ha ha

[quote Joystir59]@Gimlisaxe how incredibly dangerous to have a bathtub of petrol in your house![/quote]
I am guessing they were the same people usng plastic storage bin to get the gas into in the first place

Literally just went to fill up because my warning light came on and said I had 26 miles left! Massive queue (at least 20 cars) to get into the petrol station, blocking the whole road both ways. Think I’ll try again i the middle of night!

Toilet paper anyone?

I am completely reliant on my car for the school run - 10 miles each way which I know is not that far but you can't cycle that distance daily with all the stuff kids need, and there is no other form transport at all. So, 40 miles a day minimum, plus then work and errands.

I have no parking, just on the street, but have an EV now and charge at my local petrol stations which now all have super fast chargers. I only have to charge once a week, takes 20 mins to get from 0 to 80% charged and I sit in the car and work MNing. I take it up to 100% if no one is waiting (very rare to have to wait, has only happened once).

I accept we are lucky to be surrounded by loads of chargers but to be honest until I took the plunge and rented an EV for a month to try it out, I didn't realise we had chargers all over the place! The first week I was thinking I would have to drive to my parents' place to charge it but the Shell and BP stations are so much better than home charging.

@CityMumma78

You don’t know if all of these people are panic buying or if they have a legitimate reason for wanting to get fuel… work, forthcoming hospital appointments etc!

We do know they are panic buying.

If everyone had a legitimate reason, the petrol stations would be this busy and have great long queues every day. Normally they don't. So today is different. You don't need to be Einstein to work out why.

Problem is there is absolutely no trust in this government.

We dont trust them not to mess stuff up.

Where I live plus the media made me think that it was the majority of the working population doing that. So easy for one’s field of vision to narrow

You must realise that there are many, many jobs that can’t be done from home though?

@FreeBritnee

People won’t quit. If they couldn’t contr themselves over toilet roll they’re sure as hell not going to risk running out of fuel.

This. Many people are stupid.

@BIoodyStupidJohnson

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” — George Carlin

Love this!

@TheGrumpyGoat

Where I live plus the media made me think that it was the majority of the working population doing that. So easy for one’s field of vision to narrow

You must realise that there are many, many jobs that can’t be done from home though?

Exactly. There are a few stupid ignorant comments on here.

The media, whether it be local or national should be charged for facilitating mass panic.

It just perpetuates the situation. It’s absolutely shameful. Even posts like like add to the problem, even though I know that isn’t the OP’s intention.

To all those saying that you’re filling up because ‘why shouldn’t you’ and ‘you can only fill your tank’. Do you understand that by everyone just filling their tank will result in an immediate shortage. Because not everyone normally tries to fill up on the same day. You are creating a problem…

@TableFlowerss

The media, whether it be local or national should be charged for facilitating mass panic.

It just perpetuates the situation. It’s absolutely shameful. Even posts like like add to the problem, even though I know that isn’t the OP’s intention.

Exactly. Everytime someone says there is no shortage, it actually reminds people that there WILL be a shortage. Simply because the comment has been made and the cat is outing the bag so you might as well join them and actually protect yourself, if only for a few days.

My car has 5 miles left on it ( not sure how accurate) the nearest station is 0.9 miles away but with huge queues, WTAF, I have tried 4 time to fill up today but they are either closed or with Mike long queues. I am actually so pissed off!

*Mile

@SingingCanary

To all those saying that you’re filling up because ‘why shouldn’t you’ and ‘you can only fill your tank’. Do you understand that by everyone just filling their tank will result in an immediate shortage. Because not everyone normally tries to fill up on the same day. You are creating a problem…

It’s too late now. Enough people are panicked now that the shortage is guaranteed. So the only thing that anyone can do is join the panic buying. Remember 2020, the sensible ones didn’t manage to ease the problem, they just became the victim of the shortage.

I normally fill up when the light has come on and I'm running on fumes.
I've got a quarter tank of petrol but thought I'd be a bit smarter and fill up.
While dropping kids off at school this morning, went past three petrol stations.

First one was empty- no ones likes going there cos it isnt one of the big named ones. Second one had a queue of one car outside that was on the road trying to get in- this is my favoured one- an esso.
Third one a shell I never go. Cos the diesel pumps are always out of order. Again no queue.

Thought I'd leave the filling up til later after the kids are dropped off.
On way back. Again no queues for the shell, esso now got two cars in the queue, cant be bothered to wait. Go to the non- big name one, empty. Fill up car now nearly full, in and out job done.

Did some errands, on way back esso again queues spilling out with one car i
the road , shell no queue and non-big name one, only one car filling up, but the guy was also filling up a (? More than one)Jerry can with petrol.

I always fill my tank when it gets down to half. That's become my habit ever since Brexit and Covid became part of our lives. I also keep food and toilets paper and other essentials in stock. That's become my norm.