All the people panic buying petrol

[Shitfuckcommaetc]

Are fucking selfish, and will be the first to moan when they're takeaway can't be delivered, they can't get a taxi, or places are short staffed as people CAN'T GET TO WORK

god I'm pissed off

Yes I agree it happens that sometimes you have to drive on the fuel light but I just wondered whether the amount of people saying they were driving on ‘fumes’ and at 30 in the tank actually meant that! Since the last time there were fuel shortages (proper shortages, not panic buying, about 20 years ago) I have a panic when the light comes on!

I’ve got 3 quarters of a tank I’m fine

My mother is a carer and has just over a quarter of a tank. Think I’ll be watching the zombie shows on how to suck petrol out of my car into hers

Stop panic buying!

@ilovesushi

There is a distribution problem. People need fuel. They're filling the tank because they know they have trips they need to make. I don't see that as panic buying.

What about the poster up thread who had filled up their children's cars as well as their own? Children at uni so don't need their cars. Whilst essential workers are worried about whether they have enough fuel to get to work. No panic buying you say?

My husbands been out of work for the past several weeks, he's been offered 3 weeks of work a 9 hour drive away, arse end of nowhere.

He currently has 15 miles of diesel, went to try and get some. Most of the petrol stations are closed, the ones that are open have queues that are an hour plus. They'll be empty before the queued people get to the pump.

If we can't get fuel we're pretty much stuffed. Its annoying because this is caused by people panic buying. Ugh.

There is no shortage on fuel. Just the drivers. And even then they have drivers. If everyone was buying petrol as normal it would be fine.

But of course, the media had to scare monger people.

I have about quarter tank and luckily didn't need to drive today and will probably make a short supermarket trip tomorrow. Won't need to fill up until next week sometime..just hoping it all calms down by then

@OhGiveUp

I can't believe people drive their cars on reserve, or wait until it's practically running on fresh air before they put fuel in. Nor saying that they can't afford to put more fuel in before pay day. You know how much fuel your vehicle uses so budget accordingly on pay day for it. So if you can't get to work then it's your own fault. Someone up thread mentioned their fuel light had come on and was going to get fuel on their way home, but didn't. Why not put it in before the light comes on like, oh I don't know, earlier on in the week?

Some of us filled up On Monday and are now on almost red because we have long commutes and live rurally - I live in a large village with no petrol station! So I filled up again today - because I’m working tomorrow and may do 100plus miles for a patient covid service - nothing is ever obvious In a que at a petrol station!

Covid is part of the problem but Brexit is bigger. Some leavers need to start owning their choices. Choices have consequences Johnson's simplistic lies are just that.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/24/food-petrol-shortages-brexit-goods-johnson-botched-deal

As it happens, there’s a dearth of HGV drivers across Europe, and Covid made things worse, slowing the training of new ones. But the problem is especially acute in the UK, where the combination of Brexit and Covid prompted plenty of EU-born drivers to go back home. It’s Brexit alone that has made it hard for UK firms to hire drivers from the continent and tough for EU drivers to operate in the UK. Where once a haulier from Łódź might do a trip that took in Leicester and Lyon, the British leg is now so tangled in red tape as to be not worth the bother. We should hardly be surprised. As Sam Lowe, trade sage at the Centre for European Reform, puts it drily: “We did make a big decision to differentiate ourselves from our neighbours.”

Meh, remember the 2000 fuel crisis? That was a proper crisis. No WFH then either so far more people desperate for fuel.

ILs are stuck at home with no petrol in their car (both in their 80s) and FIL needs to go to hospital (not on bus/train route) on Monday.
DH has been out twice this evening to try to get a jerry can and some petrol . Jerry cans are £30 and queues for petrol are taking up to an hour, so looks like FIL may have to try for a taxi or see if DH can take him to the hospital.

This sounds crazy but why did the media have to report that BP had a shortage? If the media hadn’t have said anything, it wouldn’t have been noticed by most people and there wouldn’t be the problem we have now.

No it's not 'media hype' ... because not reporting shortages is censorship. Which is the behaviour of a dictatorship.

FACT :
We do not have enough drivers to distribute food and fuel.

Because ANYONE who thought 'Kev' from St Neots would wake up one morning and decide to replace Andrei from Romania pulling broccoli out of a frozen Norfolk field ... was deluded OR so privileged that they had no grip on reality.. (queue a bunch of old Etonians) ...

JesusMaryAndJoseph - Yes I remember that. I think social media now just adds to the problem and makes things 10 times worse.
People just need to stop panic buying.

Covid is in every country in the world, however this isn’t happening anywhere else.

I remember these sort of posts from when COVID started and people queued round the block at the supermarket and had fights over the toilet roll. It was always “the others” panic buying, never them even though they were there too adding to the queue.
It doesn’t take many more people than normal filling up their cars because it’s running low and ‘just in case’ to cause problems. If you can wait til Monday then most stations can restock and it’ll be ok. But most people in their heart of hearts don’t want to take that risk cos they see everyone queuing so they join the queue. No-one will ever admit it.

@lannistunut

The main reason for the driver shortage is covid, not Brexit. Bollocks.

Covid is part of it but the reason they need the visa change is 100% Brexit.

Bollocks. Covid is the main reason. 20,000 HGV drivers have left the UK due to Brexit, but 40,000 HGV driver tests have been cancelled/delayed due to Covid.

how long til it levels off?

All the managers at our store have to drive in from quite a distance. It would be a good 45 min walk for me. got quarter of a tank ,,,,,not sure if i should walk in this weekend

Brexiteers believe anything

Funny how only the UK is grinding to a total halt.

**Meh, remember the 2000 fuel crisis? That was a proper crisis. No WFH then either so far more people desperate for fuel.

Yes I remember that. That was to do with drivers striking wasn’t it? That was bad.I was army training and there was talk of having us sent home as obviously the country needs fuel to carry on working.

Fink - Of course it's media hype. There was no shortage. BP were having a few issues with deliveries and a few Tesco garages too. The media whipped everyone up into a frenzy and people started panic buying.

OR ... be happy to drive an HGV for minimum wage...

i bet i have staff ring in tomorrow saying they need to preserve their qtr tank for emergencies so cant get in or the usual lift they get wont be bringing them in

will employers be accepting this? whats a reasonable expectation for walking in? 3 miles?

@lannistunut

Brexiteers believe anything

Funny how only the UK is grinding to a total halt.

Ooooo no ... it's 'happening all over Europe' .. (only it isn't !!)

**Bollocks. Covid is the main reason. 20,000 HGV drivers have left the UK due to Brexit, but 40,000 HGV driver tests have been cancelled/delayed due to Covid.

Actually there is a shortage of lorry drivers in the EU too. About 400 thousand. So can Brexit alone be blamed?

@HeadPain

News says that people buying when they wouldn't usually buy is causing shortage, yes there is driver shortage, but some expert said on the news that if people bought at normal rates there would be no shortage. Someone really admitted on here that they filled up their two cars AND filled up their two kids' cars, their kids who are AWAY AT UNI, not with their cars, and therefore not needing it and not using it. Ffs... Sorry but people like you guys and the people filling up petrol cans are causing shortage. Really the stations should have prevented people filling up multiple petrol cans at least.

I work in a petrol station. We get quite enough abuse (especially over the last 18 months) without having to ‘police’ peoples reasons for fuel purchases.

Plus we’re still on skeleton staff, despite advertising for staff for 6 months. We can’t police the forecourt and run the till at the same time, bi-location is sadly not one of my talents 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s more than enough pressure already for a minimum wage job...