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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

474 replies

KingsleyShacklebolt · 26/09/2021 08:16

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.

OP posts:
toomuchlaundry · 26/09/2021 09:25

Do farmers buy their fuel in jerry cans?

MarshmallowSwede · 26/09/2021 09:25

Why is this your business how much they put into their car? And how would you even know how much she put in? Maybe she only had the money to put in that day.

I find the attitude of worrying how others spend their money extremely distasteful.

icedcoffees · 26/09/2021 09:25

@UltimateBugKilla

Nobody NEEDS a car, so that's a poor excuse, lots of people cope perfectly fine without car.

Stop being so judgemental and focus on you and yours!!

Plenty of people do need cars, actually.
Original poster
KingsleyShacklebolt · 26/09/2021 09:25

So people who have run out of fuel will have to pay a £10 penalty?

How often - in normal times without panic buying - are people running out of fuel?

OP posts:
gogohm · 26/09/2021 09:26

@UltimateBugKilla I can't get to my job without one, the first bus goes 30 mins after I start and there's only 3 a day! Stop being so city centric not everyone lives in one - I'm in a town of 25k and had most buses cancelled since covid (used as an excuse, never reinstated)

Orangejuicemarathoner · 26/09/2021 09:27

@BelleOfTheProvince

Why would a STUDENT not choose to set themselves up so they can walk to uni and work?

Living at home with parents

Have a job they need to get to and not fart around with buses for an extra hour

Ditto children

Late in life student. Not going to move out of a rural area for two years, especially when nowadays a degree is so guarantee of anything.

There is entitlement on this thread. It's yours.

That is NOT the impression the poster was giving at all.

It is not "entitled" to point out that this attitude is entitled.

No one's default position should be that it is ok to base your lifestyle on car driving. This is killing the planet. This is killing people locally and all over the world, through pollution and climate change

how can anything possibly be more entitled than feeling like you have the right to set up a lifestyle which is killing other people.

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

Morph2lcfc · 26/09/2021 09:27

People saying you shouldn’t fill up. I normally have to fill up once a week as that’s what I use to get to work and I also have to take my son to his specialist school each day which is a distance away (I get a budget from the council for doing this rather than them proving a taxi) Surely I am better to fill up as normal once a week rather than join the queue multiple times a week causing the petrol stations to be more busy, I am still buying the same amount overall.

Simonjt · 26/09/2021 09:27

@KingsleyShacklebolt

So people who have run out of fuel will have to pay a £10 penalty?

How often - in normal times without panic buying - are people running out of fuel?

So you’re happy for people who have run out of fuel to be subjected to a £10 penalty?
nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 09:27

Fucking he'll, don't need a car?

The bus here is once an hour and usually skips. I live in a village, not much work in walking distance.

We actively drive as little as possible. Hardly anything now I wfh. But actually sometimes, people actually need a car.

Can't imagine to think I would get to the supermarket and back with a weekly shop on a bus, when it stops so much you could be stood waiting 2 hours for one.

DumplingsAndStew · 26/09/2021 09:27

@KingsleyShacklebolt

There we go with the assumptions again....

That's laughable. Your thread is based on assumptions.

Do as I say, not as I do...

Original poster
KingsleyShacklebolt · 26/09/2021 09:28

@Morph2lcfc

People saying you shouldn’t fill up. I normally have to fill up once a week as that’s what I use to get to work and I also have to take my son to his specialist school each day which is a distance away (I get a budget from the council for doing this rather than them proving a taxi) Surely I am better to fill up as normal once a week rather than join the queue multiple times a week causing the petrol stations to be more busy, I am still buying the same amount overall.
Exactly. Buy as you always have bought. One visit rather than multiple.
OP posts:
user1487194234 · 26/09/2021 09:28

Oh dear I do think OP had an idea which was good coming from her perspective,but bad from other's perspective.
( I switched off at 'Mum bus ',hate that sort of casual sexism !)

Suitcaseseverywhere · 26/09/2021 09:28

Saying you shouldn’t base your life around car driving is damn urban centric.

Not everyone lives in towns or cities where there are other ways to get around.

ItsSnowJokes · 26/09/2021 09:29

And again people on MN show they have no understanding of how people on low income budget. When I was a lot younger I got paid weekly and could never afford to fill my car up. So £5-10 would go in for the week. A lot of people still have to do this. What about mopeds and motorbikes? They don't need a lot of fuel to be full. My brother has a moped and it costs him £9 to fill it up from empty and that does him for a week at work. He literally cannot put anymore in as its full!

Stop people filling cans etc... by all means. Put a maximum of £30 on but a minimum spend is just targeting lower income people.

QueenoftheKarens · 26/09/2021 09:29

@KingsleyShacklebolt

So people who have run out of fuel will have to pay a £10 penalty?

How often - in normal times without panic buying - are people running out of fuel?

I run out of fuel and go into the red all the time! I don't have the funds to be able to fill my car up. Confused What planet fo you live on?
Flobbertybillop · 26/09/2021 09:29

YAB massively U. I can usually only afford that much, not everyone lives the same as you

ThinWomansBrain · 26/09/2021 09:29

£30 minimum spend? For people that have sensible cars rather than chelsea tractors, that's more than a full tank.

Suitcaseseverywhere · 26/09/2021 09:30

And as a mature student who had kids I did a degree to get myself off benefits and provide for my children. And to set them a good example in part.

So I shouldn’t have done that?

Fuck me.

Original poster
KingsleyShacklebolt · 26/09/2021 09:30

I think the "nobody needs a car" people must live in London. Because if you live in central London, you probably don't.

Back in the rest of the UK however...

OP posts:
Orangejuicemarathoner · 26/09/2021 09:30

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?

Anrom19 · 26/09/2021 09:30

Some people make me worry about the future. I hope you and your family never fall on hard times . I hope you never need a carer , who on minimum wage has to use the last of her/his money to allow them to care for you . We don’t all have money in the bank . I don’t begrudge you this but please . Be a little more understanding

StarfishDish · 26/09/2021 09:31

@Suitcaseseverywhere

Saying you shouldn’t base your life around car driving is damn urban centric.

Not everyone lives in towns or cities where there are other ways to get around.

@Suitcaseseverywhere I agree with you. My husband drives 350 miles a week for work because that's where his job is.
nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 09:31

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.

Shadedog · 26/09/2021 09:31

What’s the cashier supposed to do when someone has only put £10 in and is standing there with a £10 note? Siphon it out or charge triple?

KurtWilde · 26/09/2021 09:31

We can rarely afford to put more than £10 of petrol in, £20 tops. Once again people on MN have literally no clue how people on low incomes live.