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.

Stop people filling Jerry cans assuming you’ve broke down you won’t be driving to petrol station you’ll be walking and also how many actually have Jerry cabs in the car just in case so if you’ve broken down you’ll be walking and asking for a Jerry can because you’ve broke down . They should put and Jerry cans in the back not on show.
People do top up small amounts because they can only afford small amounts and also maybe they think they are just getting what they need £10 of fuel for some is enough for the week .

We also fill cans for our lawnmower and also the brush cutter which my DH and his team of volunteers use to keep public footpaths usable. Not everyone is filling up can just to store -dangerously-- in case they need to top up their car.
I also sometimes put £20 worth of fuel in my car in the run up yo pay day. I don't use my car that often and £20 worth can last me a couple of weeks. I currently have less than 1/4 tank of petrol in my car but have no intention of queueing to top it up.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

I need to fill a jerry can for our farm quad bike

People are panic buying petrol. Yes. It's a problem.
But your solution to stop that wont just stop the panic buyers. It also stops all the low income people surviving week to week on the bare minimum from access fuel.
So, in one fell swoop, you've wiped out car access for anyone living payday to payday. And you wont have stopped panic buying; people who can afford to stockpile fuel will continue to go down to the petrol station with their jerry cans and keep filling until they hit the £30 minimum.

So I will say again, what a totally idiotic, selfish moronic idea.

Your Dad's commute is the same as my DD's. She doesn't have the option of a life, as many young people don't. I hope this brings home to you to widen your thinking before judging. My friend has arthritis, she has to do her school run by car. It's flared up since her last baby. £10 a week does her, as it does many people who don't have your privilege of having £30 to spend and can give lifts to people who could get around by public transport.

I know it's already been said but I just can't get my head around op saying this

• We all make choices though don't we?

How I choose to spend my money is none of anyone else's business, just as how they choose to spend theirs is none of mine.*

...what exactly did you think you were doing when you started this thread?! 🤣

I don't understand how some people make it through life with this utter lack of an ability to self-reflect. Do you not ever stop and think about... anything?

@bigbluebus could the paths wait for a couple of weeks until this madness dies down.

I need some petrol otherwise I won’t be able to go to work by the end of the week, but I don’t need a full tank so will just put enough in when I can finally track some down.

You don't have a right to determine how much of someone else's money they have to spend in order to satisfy your preferences. Why is it okay for you to maintain your own freedom of choice but dent others theirs?

I've no issue with people keeping their cars topped up. A lot of people have to drive long distances for work/have other commitments and they cannot risk being stuck hundreds of miles from home with no fuel.
Instead of blaming people for trying to protect themselves, blame successive governments and big business who chose not to invest in training/wages/decent working conditions for our population and instead relied on exploited cheap labour from abroad.

A pp said people are selfish for not wanting to split things like loo roll packs when shopping for several households. That would have meant being back in the shops 2 days later, which most were trying to avoid during the height of the pandemic. It's a false economy.

Not read every post, so this may have been said, but banning jerrycans outright is not the answer either. My dd doesn't have enough fuel in her tank to get to the nearest petrol station. She is stranded at her boyfriend's house and can't get home or to work tomorrow. Her boyfriend and his dad are going to go out later (when/if they get the heads up that there might be fuel somewhere) and fill up a can for her to get back on the road and be able to get some for herself. They are prepared for any abuse they might receive.
It's people filling up loads of cans at once that is more of an issue. Plus people like the poster on one of these threads who boasted that she had filled up all FOUR of their cars, including two belonging to her children away at Uni and are not being used, except as a back-up for her selfish self. THAT is what is exacerbating the problem.

A woman locally bemoaned on FB, about all of the people getting fuel at their local petrol station, which whenever I pass, is always busy.

Reminded me of another friend posting on social media, complaining about all of the cars on the road, during lockdown, that she saw while driving to the supermarket herself!

My car takes about £80 but I put in £40 unless I have a big journey as my theory is the car will be lighter with half the fuel and therefore be more economical to drive… I’ve no idea if that’s true but the science makes sense to me. If I had some fuel but had a big journey I would top up £10 or whatever before setting off to avoid filling up on the motorway.

Some people actually need to fill cans for garden equipment to do their jobs.

What a really ignorant post. You can't think of any other reason that someone might only put £10 in their car, other than they obviously didn't need it, unlike you with your stupid oversized car.
Perhaps a better idea would be for everyone to try and keep their cars half (ish) full, like I was advised by my garage, this is better for your car than waiting for the fuel light to come on and then topping up.
That way all those mumsnet posters that were 'running on fumes' and had no other choice but to join in this madness, wouldn't have added to the hysteria by joining the queues.

I sometimes take £90 work (volvo estate diesel) but have failed to get fuel 2 days in a row now as everywhere locally is out of stock. It would be annoying to queue for ages and only fill up a third! Also I cannot mow the lawn without more petrol and that is about £7 worth - at this rate will have to leave it to become a wilderness or until I can buy some kind of hand scythe.

I usually fill up when the light comes on and it’s about 45. Sometimes I am skint and can only afford £10. If there was a minimum spend I’d be fucked. I’ve also put in less than £10 when using a courtesy car for example. YABU

Yeah great plan OP. Make things even harder for poor people.

We should make a minimum spend at supermarkets too. Keep the riff raff out

Absolutely, it needs to be at least £50.

I was on the red on Thursday but I couldn't be bothered to wait as the queues were longer than usual (I had no idea at this point!) so I thought I'd fill up on my way to school the next morning.

The queues were even longer so I thought I'd pop in on my way to the supermarket, even worse, put it off until later again.

Luckily there wasn't a terrible queue at the petrol station I ended up at but there are people filling 4 or 5 Jerry cans. Why? The garage should have put a stop to it quite honestly.

And the price increase!! Fml, I put £50 in the car only for it to go a smidge over 1/2 full when it would normally be 3/4 full.

What a bunch of arseholes.

I think you should have to show your fuel guage on entry. Anything above half full and they don't let you in.

Absolutely, it needs to be at least £50.

Eh? I can fill my whole car with less than £50, as can many others

Yet on another thread a community nurse on duty tomorrow with a 40 mile drive home cannot get petrol so I am not sure I blame anyone filling up filling right up. Some people may not be able to afford the childcare cost of 3 separate trips of 1 hour each to the petrol station on their way home from work rather than just 1 such trip filling right up.

My car only takes about £50 to fill it up.

And what about those who don’t have £50?

Absolutely, it needs to be at least £50.
So someone who can only put £10 a week in their car needs to wait over a month to fill their car up? WTF are they meant to do in the mean time?

Reading this OP made me feel sort of nervous! I drive a small car and only use about 20 quids worth of fuel maximum a month. So whenever I go to the garage I put in either ten or twenty quid max. Now I'm going to be wondering if the person behind me will be writing about me on the Internet and calling me a selfish panic buyer! This is just like the toilet roll and pasta outrage again, everyone complaining that THEY needed pasta and lav roll but all these other people buying it as well are selfish nutcases. I really do hate this world and the thickos in it sometimes. It makes me feel quite depressed!

No- quite often I top up £10/20 to keep me going until pay day. I don't want to pay more as I would be overdrawn.

@Peanutsandchilli

I think you should have to show your fuel guage on entry. Anything above half full and they don't let you in.

Because the poor sods working at the petrol station on minimum wage haven't had to deal with enough abuse over the past year...Members of the general public expecting them to police panic buying, distancing and non mask wearing.

Yeah let’s fuck over those living week to week. Great idea OP