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

If I hadnt run around to get petrol today my kids couldnt do their sports tomm and I couldnt work on Monday, which would probably end in me being sacked. Taxis to work would have been too expensive, I just couldnt afford it.

Those being negative about it need to check their priviledge.

I left it very late to go as I hadn't realised how bad it was out there, and I didnt want to be a 'panic buyer'.

@Mamamia7962

linelgreen - It's selfish people like you that are part of the problem. Can't believe you filled up 4 cars. Absolute madness.

I had to read linelgreen’s post twice to make sure i was reading it right. So selfish all me me me with not a thought for anyone else. This is why there is a problem!

@onlychildhamster

I hope trains and tube will still work even if there is a shortage of petrol.

I don't have a car. One of the reason why i bought a flat in London rather than moving further out like most people advised me to was because I always thought it was precarious to organize my life on the assumption that petrol/fossil fuels would be indefinitely cheap and easily available. Or that cars would be relatively cheap forever. Sadly some people would have to go without petrol, just hope that there is enough petrol around so food still gets to the supermarkets etc.

I'm a train signaller. All my local garages are out of fuel. I have an 80 mile round trip to work and the two other signallers I work with have about sixty mile round trips. If we can't get to work then no, trains will not run in the area we control, so public transport is yet another thing that may well be affected by this

The guardian says the general driver shortage will persist until Christmas. I wonder - if we all clubbed together, do you think we could all manage to encourage each other not to panic buy stuff for Christmas? I think it would help a lot of we all support each other.

My family will be happy to get through Christmas lunch on a sandwich if it helps.

Great if you can use public transport. Those "greedy selfish @$$holes" you see queuing for fuel could be relying on their cars for work, or to attend appointments etc there are countless reasons.

Take the bus or the train. I have to. If all these panic buyers take all the fuel, what's left for public transport? And then I can't get to my appointments or college or work.

If I can walk to it, I do. If I can't, it's train or bus, dependant on how far away the train station is to my destination, then it's bus. I'm thinking the buses run on fuel as well, your delivery drivers for your takeaways, food shopping or packages from Amazon. Your Nurses and Doctors and community care workers who need to drive to get to a client. Your social workers when a call comes in for a child in need. Your Ambulances, Fire Engines and Police should you need them. Your HGV drivers transporting goods across these countries trying to ensure our shelves are stocked. These people are the ones who need to re-fuel often. You don't, unless you work miles away from a train station or bus stop. Otherwise, use the bus, use the train or good old fashioned walking does the trick.

I'm talking about the panic buyers stockpiling fuel here, just like they did with the toilet roll. That's what this thread is about. Panic Buying.
Not people who are filling up for genuine reasons SMH!

@RedRiverShore

People banging on about not panic buying have probably got a fullish tank and/or wfh

Erm.... Did you read my OP?

FrozenWillow, not all areas have decent bus or train links, especially outside of major towns and cities and especially outside of 9-6ish.

Problem is, the more people talk about it, the more they’re ‘fueling’ the frenzy 😬😂 Yesterday when I was on the school run, I was listening to LBC news and they were live on location at one petrol station which had run out! Interviewing the staff and asking them if they thought “the media” were to blame…..🙄 The irony was totally lost on them, that they were making it tens of thousands of times worse - quite literally I expect. I hadn’t heard of any fuel issues until I heard that interview. (I did pass some queues at Esso but assumed it was just Friday chaos! 🤷🏼‍♀️)
It’s currently the main story on Sky News website! This will continue until the media coverage & social media frenzy continues… It is proven human nature for people to want something that’s extremely limited. The media & people on social media, keep screaming loudly that it’s super limited!! So on it goes….

@StrongLegs

The guardian says the general driver shortage will persist until Christmas. I wonder - if we all clubbed together, do you think we could all manage to encourage each other not to panic buy stuff for Christmas? I think it would help a lot of we all support each other.

My family will be happy to get through Christmas lunch on a sandwich if it helps.

You can club together if you want, but you will be the ones losing out.. because everyone else will still be panic buying

@FrozenWillow

Great if you can use public transport. Those "greedy selfish @$$holes" you see queuing for fuel could be relying on their cars for work, or to attend appointments etc there are countless reasons.

Take the bus or the train. I have to. If all these panic buyers take all the fuel, what's left for public transport? And then I can't get to my appointments or college or work.

If I can walk to it, I do. If I can't, it's train or bus, dependant on how far away the train station is to my destination, then it's bus. I'm thinking the buses run on fuel as well, your delivery drivers for your takeaways, food shopping or packages from Amazon. Your Nurses and Doctors and community care workers who need to drive to get to a client. Your social workers when a call comes in for a child in need. Your Ambulances, Fire Engines and Police should you need them. Your HGV drivers transporting goods across these countries trying to ensure our shelves are stocked. These people are the ones who need to re-fuel often. You don't, unless you work miles away from a train station or bus stop. Otherwise, use the bus, use the train or good old fashioned walking does the trick.

I'm talking about the panic buyers stockpiling fuel here, just like they did with the toilet roll. That's what this thread is about. Panic Buying.
Not people who are filling up for genuine reasons SMH!

And how do you tell is filling up for "genuine" reasons when you see them in a queue?

This is like lockdown all over again. Shopping shaming, mask shaming, vaccine shaming... now fuel shaming. That is something to shake your head at.

@123rd

I've just driven past 2 and both have cars queueing onto the road with people trying to get in. Idiots

What if every single person you saw was either vital NHS staff (Doctors or paramedics), Carers or HGV drivers filling up in order to get to their bases to drive their trucks?

But no, calling them all 'idiots' fits your narrative much better

No, I have not panic bought any fuel, I do not fit into any of the categories above. Thankfully I filled up the day before as I have to get my autistic child to her special school 6 miles away every day. However had I not already had a full tank, I still wouldn't have joined the queues, so please don't accuse me of defending panic buying. I'm just saying that driving past queues of people and declaring them all idiots without knowing a thing about them is just fucked up

There have been fuel shortages before, we know what it’s like to not have petrol and not be able to get to work. A lot of people work outside of bus routes. They build business parks around the outside of towns for cheap offices and factories. They rely on the staff having their own vehicle.

DD works a late shift and there aren’t any busses, she needs her car to be able to work.

That’s reality.

Yes the more people panic the more there’s an issue, but that’s down to the garages to put limits on fuel. Same as it was down to supermarkets to restrict items per household or the number of items on a delivery (remember everyone complaining ‘but I shop for three local blocks of flats and I need more than 6 bananas’)

You’ll then get the ‘but I neeeeeedd my 400 mile round trip to Harrods, DS will only eat their dumplings’

Do people really have a set day when they fill up? I go when my car is on the "damn it body with vagina woman, fill me up". I have my more often used stations but I regularly use a good 7-8 different ones so I am never consistent in time or location.

The petrol stations have been packed in the midlands, but I’ve been able to fill up no problem each time I’ve tried at 04:30am on way to work. Makes me wonder if the issue is actually shortages or just people queuing.

@Whitefire

Do people really have a set day when they fill up? I go when my car is on the "damn it body with vagina woman, fill me up". I have my more often used stations but I regularly use a good 7-8 different ones so I am never consistent in time or location.

I only used to fill up when the warning light came on. I bloody hated the whole going to a garage rigmarole tbh. And I was broke so only put in £10/£15 at a time. If I was still driving, I would be queuing now, and called a selfish twat for doing so even though that jibe would be totally unjustified.

*And how do you tell is filling up for "genuine" reasons when you see them in a queue?

This is like lockdown all over again. Shopping shaming, mask shaming, vaccine shaming... now fuel shaming. That is something to shake your head at.*

You're obviously just looking for an argument. I am agreeing with OP. End of!

Makes me wonder if the issue is actually shortages or just people queuing

It is just our Britishness coming out, we just join a queue even if we don't know what it's for.

I think the half-a-tank-lasting-a-year may be the new Mumsnet chicken.

@HeddaGarbled

I think the half-a-tank-lasting-a-year may be the new Mumsnet chicken.

My car was filled up March 2020 when it had an MOT Had half a tank left still in October 2020

I usually do more miles, not much as my commute is a 10 mile round trip but shielding and WFH. Probably do 1000 miles a year now if that

It's odd though, as where I live the queues are actually no longer than 3/4 per pump from what I've seen & heard. That's normal for a busy period here. None of our stations have run out.

@NotMyCat That's extremely bad for your car! To leave the same body of fuel standing in your tank for over a year? That will cause some major, major issues to your vehicle later on. Yikes

[quote FrozenoutofCostco]@NotMyCat That's extremely bad for your car! To leave the same body of fuel standing in your tank for over a year? That will cause some major, major issues to your vehicle later on. Yikes [/quote]
I didn't have much choice, the fuel was in it, it was pre lockdown and I couldn't go anywhere and was shielding for nearly a year

It has numerous engine flushes and fuel additives to clean the engine and injectors as they're free for me from work so I'm not too worried! It's best to leave it standing with a full tank which is why I brimmed it in March with a fuel preservative in, and it had the usual flush and injector clean for the MOT

So many people insisting and defending that no one is panic-buying. If that was the case, then forecourts would look like this every day of the week.

People ARE panic-buying, but dressing it up and excusing it to suit their own circumstances. SO weird how, this particular weekend, everyone is suddenly low on fuel and just have to fill-up. But no, there’s no panic-buying here, all perfectly normal !

As for the poster very early in the thread - filling up 4 cars (2 of which belong to people who aren’t even at home), bloody shame on you.

For those who do online grocery deliveries, if possible try to book slots where there is already a delivery in your area. Not sure how all the sites work, but I know Ocado show a green van icon next to time slots where a delivery in your area is already booked - little things like this will at least go a small way to helping save fuel for food deliveries.

[quote Berkeys]@sleepinghyena. Ours was second hand. Plenty of people on MN drive cars worth more than £3k, don’t be naive![/quote]
How much is your electric bill though?