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.

The minimum amount at my nearest petrol station is 2 litres. Ask me how I know that …

Orangejuicemarathoner

And no, I couldn't get the actual bus for many of the journeys I need to do. DD needs to be at her part-time job this morning at 11am. 20 minutes in the car. By bus it would take 1 hour and 25 minutes and would mean getting one bus into the city centre, changing, and another bus out again.

but yes, she could be doing this by bus, and should be, and if you didn't have a car, she would be

Well no. Because if I didn't have a car, she wouldn't have taken the job in the first place as she would only have applied for places which are easily accessible by public transport.

And as for "should be" - almost 3 hours on a bus every day she works rather than 40 minutes by car? OK then.

So many assumptions op. At your daughter's age I had a job a very similar distance from home-two buses, 60-90 minutes total journey time. I started work at 8am. And it never occurred to me to get my mother to give me a lift. My job, my responsibility to get there.

DH and I don't run a car either, and we're not in London.

@toomuchlaundry

I’m sure the majority of people who are currently filling Jerry cans are similar to people who bought many packets of toilet roll.

I can’t remember the last time I saw someone filling up a jerry can at a garage, but suddenly there are lots of people who need to do this.

Actually i filled up Friday on the way home from work.. knowing nothing about the fuel drama. A guy filled his Gerry can next to me.. I had the exact same thought.

I don't get paid till Tuesday as many people don't . I have started a new job in my previous job i used barely any fuel. In my current job i probably use about 3/4 tank..
I do wonder what world some people live in. Have you never noticed shops are busier the weekend after payday ?

Eventually he brought the 2 pack allowance and then came in a few mins later and used another till to pay. Couples were coming in were splitting up at the front and using two trolleys to again get their ‘allowance’.

I remember one couple doing this. They split up and came back in at least 3 times whilst I was there and I didn’t clock what they were doing until I was leaving and I heard them saying what till each of them would go to. Each trip they got 2 packs each. So they must have had at least 12 packs of toilet roll! I always wonder if they’ve gone through them all yet

@Orangejuicemarathoner

Plenty of people do need cars, actually.

some, but very few, and of those that do, it is mostly people who have chosen to set up their life style to be car dependent, and we absolutely have to get our culture out of the mindset that this is ok, because it is not.

And no one who is a driver today can guarantee that they will not be banned from driving tomorrow, all it takes is one episode of a trivial, unforseeable and very common medical condition, of which there are many.

So if you think you "NEED" to drive, what are your contingency plans if you are banned from driving for medical reasons tomorrow?

Nah - it's not a choice. We live rurally because it's cheap and we can't afford to double or triple our mortgage to buy in an area with a regular bus service.

If I was banned from driving tomorrow I would have to close (or severely reduce) my business and apply for benefits until I could find a job that fit in with our very limited train service.

That would mean not working Sundays, not working bank holidays, not working early in the morning or late at night - as the trains just don't run then. We don't have a bus service at all, so relying on buses wouldn't help me either.

Cycling is also impossible as we live on windy, hilly country roads with no street lights and our nearest "big town" with decent jobs is a 40 minute drive away - it would probably take me a good 3-4 hours to cycle it.

It's very urban centric to assume people choose to rely on cars. Plenty of jobs demand it and many trades people couldn't work at all if they didn't have a private vehicle.

Whenever my car has been off the road I haven't been able to work. I've been able to rely a little on family but that's only a very temporary solution. The same applies to DH - he carries a van worth of tools around with him to his job - he couldn't exactly start carting a cement mixer around on the train every day

@NantesElephant

People could make bus routes better if they write to their MP and vote for politicians that act on such things.

What does the government have to do with bus routes?

@nyktipolos

And for a STUDENT to CHOOSE to do that as part of their university life is morally utterly bankrupt

Don't be ridiculous. If Uni students didnt have to take huge loads AND work jobs and could all live right on campus, you may have a point about students not driving.

Except, that's not the way it for most uni students.

Good lord, OP is sadly not the only deluded person on this thread

Not on a wind up. Just trying to propose an idea which might address the panic-buying which is affecting everyone.

The nearest university to me is just over an hour by car.

I couldn’t have got there by train or bus (see above re buses to my village).

I worked and had children.

Was I honestly just supposed to stay on benefits then?

@NantesElephant

People could make bus routes better if they write to their MP and vote for politicians that act on such things.

Yes - because we all know that works and that it happens overnight

We've had no public bus service here for years and they've massively reduced the train service. It doesn't run on Sundays or Bank Holidays as it is!

By bus it would take 1 hour and 25 minutes and would mean getting one bus into the city centre, changing, and another bus out again. I mean this is pretty much my daily commute

Lol at student who live at home or out of town centres or who work or have placement being morally bankrupt.

My local bus company got rid of their card system recently (like oyster) you have to use an app on your phone instead or use cash or contactless. If you use cash or contactless you don’t get the fare discount or daily/weekly cap. The app NEVER works, you need a relatively new smartphone for it so if you have a smartphone older than 2/3 years or a brick you can’t use it. It’s one account per phone so if you get the bus with your 5 and 7 year olds you need 3 smartphones. If your battery goes or you can’t get WiFi it doesn’t work. If it works getting on but not getting off you get charged the max. Fares have pretty much tripled. That’s morally bankrupt, not students working a 6am McDonald’s shift.

@KingsleyShacklebolt

Not on a wind up. Just trying to propose an idea which might address the panic-buying which is affecting everyone.

Now that your tank is full, maybe go out for a drive and jog on

@KingsleyShacklebolt

Not on a wind up. Just trying to propose an idea which might address the panic-buying which is affecting everyone.

By getting people to buy more fuel? .

[quote Simonjt]@Orangejuicemarathoner All those awful farmers growing your food, how morally bankrupt they are.[/quote]
Oh please, bet they're self-sufficient living off their own land using their BARE HANDS

I think some people on here don’t understand what it’s like living rurally either. It’s not just rich people in mansions who live out in the countryside.

I am in a pokey 1 bed flat in the middle of nowhere and my work is 35miles away (70mile round trip) and my DCs school is 15miles away (30mile round trip) which I need to drive them to. I need to fill up an entire tank every other day as I only have a small car.
I know people have it a lot worse than me too.

@KingsleyShacklebolt your the one who started the ridiculous judgmental bullshit to begin with. You didn't have to say anything but no you choose to insult many people for what? Just so you can feel better about yourself?

There are also NO buses or trains anywhere near me like a lot of people.

I do think those students on placements absolutely should be walking to and from placements, especially after a 12 hour night shift. Universities might well deem a 2 hour drive reasonable for a placement, but won't do them no harm to change buses several time or walk for hours upon hours.

When I had my first car I only filled up £10 a go because it's all I could afford working part-time and still at school. I bought the car myself for £700 and I was lucky enough to have parents who paid my insurance for the year and I paid them back monthly.

I remember in the late 2000s there were stupid queues at petrol stations due to a lorry blockade something. I broke down on the parkway stuck in one of these queues because I ran out of fuel on my way to work, if there were no queues, I'd have made it to work, as idling blasted through the fuel I had. My dad had to get a jerry can to come and get me moving again.

The theory is good, but we can't stop people filling cans, maybe limit them to 2 or 3 due to machinery being fuel powered.

So many assumptions op. At your daughter's age I had a job a very similar distance from home-two buses, 60-90 minutes total journey time. I started work at 8am. And it never occurred to me to get my mother to give me a lift. My job, my responsibility to get there.

And your mum was happy to let you head off at 6.30 am to spend 90 minutes on a bus, when she had the option of driving you in a much shorter time? I don't mind driving my 16 year old. I don't subscribe to this common MN opinion that as soon as a child is 16 they are an adult and all help stops.

@KingsleyShacklebolt

Not on a wind up. Just trying to propose an idea which might address the panic-buying which is affecting everyone.

I think a better solution would be for people not to fill their tanks up completely full where possible so you are just taking what you need and try and reduce their car usage if possible.

@Rhubarbsoup

I do think those students on placements absolutely should be walking to and from placements, especially after a 12 hour night shift. Universities might well deem a 2 hour drive reasonable for a placement, but won't do them no harm to change buses several time or walk for hours upon hours.

Do you have any idea of how university placements work?

My child did a healthcare degree and could be placed anywhere within 100 miles or so.

And once they qualify they apply for jobs in deaneries which can cover huge areas.

@Suitcaseseverywhere

The nearest university to me is just over an hour by car.

I couldn’t have got there by train or bus (see above re buses to my village).

I worked and had children.

Was I honestly just supposed to stay on benefits then?

Know your place!

You aren’t allowed a car unless you can afford to pay over £30 each time which perhaps you can’t without going to university, but you can’t go to university unless you drive. But you can’t drive because you don’t fit the mumsnet rules. So just stay in your village where you can’t go round upsetting people with your car, and your hopes and your small top ups at the petrol station. 🙄😂

Honestly you couldn’t make this shit up

Mine was in the red on Friday and I put £15 in because 1. That's all I needed for the week and 2. It's all I could afford until payday.

Maybe we should have rules to stop people buying massive petrol guzzling cars that they don't actually need?