Rather than a maximum spend for petrol, we need a minimum

[KingsleyShacklebolt]

Lots of talk of rationing petrol to deal with the people who are panic buying.

I would suggest an alternative approach - a minimum spend. I filled my car yesterday, it's a big mum bus MPV thing so takes £60 - £70 of diesel to fill up. And before anyone asks yes I did need to fill it, it was well into the red.

But the woman in front of me and the man adjacent spent less than £10 each. So their car was clearly not empty.

So why not have a minimum spend? Say £20 or £30? It would stop people topping up every couple of days "just in case". Would stop people filling jerry cans. People aren't going to keep filling up jerry cans or topping up every day if they know that their couple of litres is going to cost £30.

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

Perhaps they only had 10 to spend.

When I was a student, I could only afford to put £10 in my car at a time as I was paid weekly and had little to spare. I needed the car to get to uni and work. If I had to spend £30, I would have to miss uni for 3 weeks to save up enough (and probably still wouldn't be able to as I would have run out of petrol to get to work so wouldn't be paid)

My car and camper cost £55ish and £80ish to fill, if they were both near empty £30 of fuel would be more than adequate.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

Yeah this is a pretty obvious solution

I very often only put £10 in the car. Can’t always afford more.

But they might be running on fumes and they might only be able to afford to put in what they need for that day/week?

But the woman in front of me and the man adjacent spent less than £10 each. So their car was clearly not empty.

Or they only had £10. Have you never met someone poorer than you?

Perhaps they were on empty but only put £10 in to leave some fuel for other people?

That’s actually a really good idea 🤔 though I suppose there may be a small number of people who do need a small amount of petrol to get to work or similar, but can’t afford to fill up until payday or whatever and do need £10 or £15 worth. It would probably stop most people though.

YABU. Not everyone would have the budget to be able to spend more than £10 in one go on petrol. Should those people just not use their cars for three weeks (and walk everywhere) just so they can 'save' enough for the minimum spend?

I saw someone suggest this yesterday and thought how many people would that mean couldn't get petrol because they wouldn't have £20 or £30 and probably only ever put the minimum in each week. I think as others have said, the more sensible approach is stop people filling cans. But even then, there will be people who genuinely have run out of petrol and need to fill a can.

I thought there was a minimum already? But a minimum amount not value?

When I was younger I used to put in £10 a time, I couldn't afford more.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

What about people who need petrol for machinery? My husband is a self employed gardener and uses jerry cans to fill up his petrol mower, hedge trimmer etc. Don't assume that everyone filling them is stockpiling, it's essential for some.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

Agreed.

Even now I put 15 a week fuel in my car, its all I need for school and work commutes - and its how my budget works. Every Sunday I put in 15, that lasts me until the next week when the light comes on, usually on the Friday.

Not everyone can afford to fill the car fully in one go. That person may have been in the red and putting in just enough to get to work and back.

My normal fuelling approach is to wait til it goes to red and then fill right up then I know I am done for the next month BUT if I needed fuel at the moment I wouldn’t dream of filling up completely I would just do a £20/£30 top up to see me through for now.

Stupid idea
Just put in what you can afford or need
You know, like you normally do 🙄

Yabu. I do not think we need more regulations.

Only on mumsnet would people not understand that not everyone has the cost of a full tank of Petol lying around. Some people need a car for whatever reason but will be filling up shift by shift/journey by journey as that's all that they can afford.

How do you know that those cars weren’t empty??

Maybe they only had £10 to spend?

Maybe stop being so judgmental and worry about your own fuel needs

But the woman in front of me and the man adjacent spent less than £10 each. So their car was clearly not empty. or they only had £10 to spend on petrol. It's near the end of the month so they might have to wait to pay day etc.

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

I understand where you're coming from but there are people who use petrol driven machines to do their job, they won't be able to work if they can't fill a Jerry can. I don't know how you would easily police that.

How thoughtless op!

It's days before payday... people are struggling