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.

I get that budgeting might be an issue but it's impossible to know whether people are filling up with £7.50 or whatever because that's genuinely all they can afford, or because they are just topping up.

Banning cans is another good idea but I don't see how it would work in practice - I fill my car at a supermarket where all the pumps are automatic, no staff in attendance. The pump won't know if you're filling a can, or another small container like a moped. We have never had jerry cans in the house/garage, seems like a bit of a fire risk to me.

I think this would be a good idea

And I would limit jerry can sales to one small container sufficient to get a stranded car on the move - hopefully it would not be needed for very long to minimise impact on business use (eg gardening machinery though IIRC, even a small can lasts a long time with such devices)

Petrol is a hazardous item to store and should not be kept in houses (including attached garages)

At the moment, surely the priority is to limit your fuel use where possible and buy only what you absolutely need. Filling your tank just because it’s empty seems like a pretty selfish move. If everyone does that then in an hour or two, the petrol stations will be closed again or limited to emergency service vehicles only.

I'd agree, but this would impact the less wealthy, who tend to be lower paid key workers, for example, carers.

Thr only other time I remember queues at petrol stations was when I must have been 9 or 10 (1999/2000 ish?)
I remember my step dad who used to buy £5-10 of fuel at a time, waiting in a petrol queue for ages to fill up with that amount.

I don't ever remember my mum putting in more than £10 or so at a time because of finances.

If that were a rule at this time, people in a hard up situation would lose out entirely.

I'd be shocked if it were the norm for everyone to fill their tanks to the brim each time they fill up.

You didn't need to fill it you could have done half a tank. Unless you were going long distance.

So your answer to a fuel shortage is not to limit the amount . So for everyone, but lots for the few who can afford it...
Nice will the bosses be happy they have a full tank and no staff?

Also banning jerry cans would not work for those who have genuinely run out and need the jerry can to transport petrol to their abandoned car.

Some people can only afford to put £10 in the tank.

Some people have small cars - our tank is only about £30 to fill. We don't let it get completely empty so often a fill up is less than £20.

When I was a single parent on min wage I could only afford £10 on occasion. Your solution would penalise the poor.

Cop on to yourself.

I often top up £10 because it's all I can afford. Once I even topped up £5 to get to work I couldn't afford anymore. I do this because my tank is empty and does need topped up . I wish I could afford to top up £60/£70 a go.

@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.

Maybe her car was nearly empty but she wasn't driving much this week so only took what she needed?

I get that budgeting might be an issue but it's impossible to know whether people are filling up with £7.50 or whatever because that's genuinely all they can afford, or because they are just topping up. exactly. So why would you take the risk and assume everyone was just topping up for fun and ban everyone with a minimum spend.

Millions of people in this country are living paycheque to paycheque in constant financial instability. The lack of understanding on this site never ceases to amaze me.
OP do you actually need to drive a 'big mum bus'? What's wrong with a more modest little car? Couldn't you just get the actual bus?
Or am I making assumptions based on nothing??

My issue wasn’t budgeting by the way.

I had no fucking money. I budgeted the fuck out of what I had.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

I would completely agree with this if it wasn't for knowing that my own circumstance (and probably plenty of other peoples for whatever reason) requires it on just one occasion. Dp has a bike, only costs £6 to fill the tank but he doesn't have enough in there to make it to a petrol station (local ones are all empty). I'm really looking forward to the judgemental looks I get when I finally find a petrol station with petrol and put £6 worth in a Jerry can so he can get to work tomorrow..

Your privilege is showing OP. My first job was at a petrol station. I once had a customer ask of £3.20 would get them enough fuel to get them to their destination. They literally didn't have a penny more to their name.

They can’t really stop people filling Jerry cans either as there may be people who genuinely need to if they have had to abandon their car as it has run out of petrol (I can see this happening to me as I have not yet found the patience to wait in a massive queue for the station and my tank is getting worryingly low!)

But people really need to stop being so bloody selfish and greedy. Just fill your car as you would normally.

My bike only holds 12 litres, so yeah.......

I'm going to need fuel in about 4 days time, if it hasn't calmed down by then I'm going to probably have to join the people with jerry cans unfortunately.

The women who was photographed filling up a long line of cans. The man who had as many containers in his boot as he could. I am sure they had their reasons but this is bringing up the worst in people. Was it really 20 years we had the last petrol shortage?

I think the £10 because they cannot afford more is a bit of red herring. Owning a car is expensive. Anyone who can only put in £10 is rare. Whenever I have filled up I have never noticed anyone putting in £10 - why now??

I worked at a supermarket during ‘toilet gate’. The excuses people would come up with were shameful..one man said he wanted 6 packs of loo rolls because he was buying for the old and one was disabled. When I suggested he could split the packs (they were 16 roll ones) he said his group wouldnt like him to do that.

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’.

Shameful, selfish behaviour.

@toomuchlaundry

They should stop people filling up jerry cans to start with

That’s a very car-centric way to look at it. There are many other uses for petrol!

Do you know that if you’re unemployed you’re expected to go 90 mins on public transport for work? And that can cost more than the petrol to get there?

Do you know what some of us live rurally and in order to get to work we NEED a car?

Paid weekly meant just before my tax credits went in on a Monday I had hardly any money left and the petrol station in my village didn’t open until after I needed to leave to get to work.

Also driving round in car full of petrol is less economical as it's heavier. You need to rethink your fueling patterns and save some for other people.

Its a self limiting problem. Most people arent doing gerry cans. There isnt a petrol shortage

I drove home on fumes yesterday and may well need to walk or cycle to a garage with my can before I can drive anywhere else.

It would have been nice if some other fuckers had put half a tank in rather than slurping up £70 worth.

You can't penalise people who are only spending what they can afford!