To think the petrol 'crisis' was conspiracy?

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Ok this couple we'll be so far fetched that I truly am being unreasonable to even think it, but .....

Is there any chance that the media coverage regarding the petrol supplies was some kind of collusion/conspiracy to make us all panic buy and be concerned about where our next lot of fuel is coming from, so the government can swoop in and save the day with thousands of visas for drivers from other countries?

Rather than them having to communicate the same intention regarding visas but with their tail between their legs following brexit?

Ok go?!

Ah, not a govt conspiracy, just human nature at work again.

And ‘twas ever thus. Look how quickly rationing had to be introduced in Ww2. If humans fear running short, they will trample anyone in their pursuit to line their own nest.

Actually even animals - major stockpiling going on by squirrels in the garden.

No I don't believe it's a conspiracy. Haven't you seen this situation before? I know I have. Media reports on fuel shortage, people panic buy, result - petrol shortages are much worse.

I'm in my 50's and seen it more than once. You've seen it too, 17 months ago, except it was loo rolls then. Same principle.

Why, oh why do people think the government do things deliberately to make themselves look bad. It's all very well saying that they will sweep in and save the day, but people will still blame them in the first place. Much better to be seen to be competent and in charge surely?

Please don't try and answer that. It's not a conspiracy. Not everything in life is part of some great plan. To those who need to see patterns in everything, just accept that life is messy and people act irrationally.

Did you buy petrol when you didn't need to op?

Some Government junior minister:
Well we have written the legislation, so now how do we test it? Oh I know, let's get a fuel company to leak some info to the media about closing some filling stations, then wait for the chaos, so we can implement our legislation.

No but I have been wondering if they are about to bury something even worse in the press whilst everyone is distracted with petrol. This was completely avoidable.

No idea what though

I remember a loo roll shortage in the early 80s and also a sugar shortage. I remember my mum sending us all individually into Lipton’s (blast from the past there) to buy packs of loo roll and dsis being asked tersely, “Are you part of the same family?” We were terrified!

Yes def a conspiracy, but not because of the visas, because they whacked the prices up and didn’t want a repeat of the early 2000s

@roadwarrior

I think you're giving too much credit to the government. They're not that smart. They're actually kind of dim.

That's what I was thinking

I'm the furthest thing from a conspiracy theorist you could get but even I raised a few eyebrows. In fairness I agree with pp that I'm not sure I would believe the government was organised enough to do this. I don't doubt they would consider it but I cannot imagine they have enough ability or intelligence.

I do sort of understand what you mean though, it's just so ridiculous I mean it feels quite artificial. The press start reporting everyone goes mad panic buying and it just all seems to be a panic over nothing. Whilst there are supply issues in terms of logistics we do seem to have successfully impacted most of the country over media prompts (I do not believe they are evil or the next coming.....I think the media are like most people....make the most money out of their job).

To be honest though I have a sneaking suspicion I may be searching for reasons to avoid accepting that as a public
(I know not everyone, not me either but enough people and we all live on the society so the stupid sadly belong to us)
We are unutterably stupid and ran with news reports that should have been taken with a pinch of salt and did this entirely to ourselves (in terms of the effect of panic buying)

I am just not ready to accept that as a society we are that stupid or ridiculous.

No, the government are just about to go on recess, during which the "can we lockdown the country at a moment's notice" bill will automatically renew because nobody is in parliament.

The fuel "crisis" is a smokescreen.

Oh - and many countries across continental Europe have HGV driver shortages because during the pandemic no-one was able to train and pass the tests. I believe 60k shortage in Germany and 120k driver shortage in Poland? I'll find my sources and it wasn't just Mr Shapps.

It didn’t take much orchestrating though did it? All they had to do was get a paper to publish the story and to be honest the general public did the rest.

@Cocopogo

Yes def a conspiracy, but not because of the visas, because they whacked the prices up and didn’t want a repeat of the early 2000s

Who has "whacked" up what prices?

@Thewiseoneincognito

Anyone with kids should be watching this very closely, the Britain your children will grow up in is going to be a very different place to the one we knew as kids. It’s as if we’ve self inflicted a regressive development strategy onto ourselves.

lVery well put - completely agree with you. It's a dreadful shame.

@knittingaddict

No I don't believe it's a conspiracy. Haven't you seen this situation before? I know I have. Media reports on fuel shortage, people panic buy, result - petrol shortages are much worse.

I'm in my 50's and seen it more than once. You've seen it too, 17 months ago, except it was loo rolls then. Same principle.

I’m of an age where I’ve certainly seen this sort of thing before but I’m not sure I’ve seen this sort of problem evolve in the way things did at the end of last week….the queues, the panic buying etc are the effect, but the query this time is what was the root cause?

Whilst there had been grumbles in the UK press and about elsewhere about a shortage of HGV drivers I’d read nothing on UK MSM and heard nothing from UK family about fuel station closures until the DM splashed the story as what appeared to be headline news late on Thursday …….

It does seem (if other posters are to be believed) that at that stage in the game there were only a handful of closures nationwide….If that is true (genuine question - was it?) then I think it’s fairly reasonable to have suspicions about why the story was placed in such a prominent position on at least one newspapers on-line site with a banner headline at the top…..and it does seem it whose those sort of headlines that had the effect of creating a run on the pumps.

I think it’s not unreasonable to ask if parts of the MSM simply used the station closures as headlines on Thursday in just an innocent attempt at generating bit of clickbait that had unfortunate consequences, or was something more deliberate going on.

@PicsInRed

That OP, definitely, and also we aren't talking about Andrew anymore are we?

Classic Yes Minister stuff.

I am. Let's keep talking about Andrew.

Wonder if his brand-new taxpayer-funded Flying Spur is still flying? Anyone seen it in the queue at Sainsbury's? Where's the nearest petrol station to Balmoral, would it even get there and back on £30?

YANBU OP. As long as we're all fighting, upset and miserable about something they're safe.

[quote Porridgealert]@EdgeOfTheSky. I guess it depends on the nationality. There are still countries where a moderate wage in the UK is better than a good wage in their own country. And if there are shortages in their own country as you say, they'll easy pick up a job when they eventually go home. But the strong likelihood is that any driver that comes here will be needed for quite a long time so future prospects would seem to be good. I should think there will be those who are happy to take a chance at that. It'll be interesting to see.[/quote]
But it’s not just the wages.

Living costs here are very high and they may not be able to find accommodation.

Conditions in this country are notorious compared to the way drivers are treated in Europe. Forced to spend their 45 minutes break in lay byes with no toilets, often overnight stops are the same. Very expensive service station meals instead of the network of transport cafes and lorry parks with good value, healthy, proper meals.

Treated like criminals in supermarket distribution centres, obliged to sit for hours in a small waiting room, often denied access to the toilets, keys taken off them for H&S reasons. Warehouses making them wait for hours, using up time, instead of an efficient ‘tip and go’ system.

I don't see why it would be in the interests of the Government for the papers to be full of pictures of long queues outside of petrol stations and lots of angry people who couldn't get petrol just for the sake of introducing a few thousands temporary visas. This has harmed the Government more than it's helped them.

Due to Covid not as much fuel was used and was sitting around

Fuel goes off

Gone off fuel can't be sold

Unsold fuel looses money

Government love money

Fuel must be sold quickly before it goes off

Enter the media !

I’m of an age where I’ve certainly seen this sort of thing before but I’m not sure I’ve seen this sort of problem evolve in the way things did at the end of last week….the queues, the panic buying etc are the effect, but the query this time is what was the root cause?

notimagain Probably a perfect storm of lots of things and a very pedestrain answer - Covid, Brexit and media hype. The DM made the situation far worse, as did posts on social media. It's human nature.
Once you tell the general public that something may be hard to obtain in the future then they buy that thing asap. If there had been a fire in a toothpaste factory then people would be stock piling toothpaste. It's what we do.

As to the Daily Mail. They don't have a responsible bone in their body, so they scare mongered and here we are.

@NotDavidTennant

I don't see why it would be in the interests of the Government for the papers to be full of pictures of long queues outside of petrol stations and lots of angry people who couldn't get petrol just for the sake of introducing a few thousands temporary visas. This has harmed the Government more than it's helped them.

Of course it has. I really don't understand the logic of conspiracy theories.

My daughter starts a fulltime job this week, which she needs to drive to. We need to provide after school care and have to drive to the school. My daughter drove a long distance yesterday and all petrol stations were closed. She has half a tank to last the week, which isn't enough. If it's a conspiracy theory all it's done is inconvience and annoy three generations of a family.

It's exactly what it looks like - difficult circumstances, media irresponsibility and panic buying. Simple as that. There is no grand plan. There never is.

No - hugely unlikely it's a Govt conspiracy. Am afraid the only conspiring the Govt ministers get up to is leaking against each other and perhaps other parties for purely political purposes... the intrinsic problem with almost all conspiracy theories is that most of them require a level of coordination and creativity that the Govt ministers and Government machinery is simply not capable of.

It won’t be a Govt generated conspiracy..

If there is one it’s worth bearing in mind:

1. The driver problem has been brewing since mid summer if not before.

1. Certain organizations have been lobbying for the likes of short term visas for several months.

1. The current Government has something of a reputation for not being particularly fleet of foot when it comes to decision making..

1. The news coverage seems to have precipitated the decision to issue temporary visas.

BTW agree with EdgeOfTheSky’s observations about the facilities available for HGV drivers in the UK verses elsewhere in Europe…

@notimagain

It won’t be a Govt generated conspiracy..

If there is one it’s worth bearing in mind:

1. The driver problem has been brewing since mid summer if not before.

1. Certain organizations have been lobbying for the likes of short term visas for several months.

1. The current Government has something of a reputation for not being particularly fleet of foot when it comes to decision making..

1. The news coverage seems to have precipitated the decision to issue temporary visas.

BTW agree with EdgeOfTheSky’s observations about the facilities available for HGV drivers in the UK verses elsewhere in Europe…

Yes, I take back the government aspect of the thread title and think your suggestion is more plausible.

No real planning needed, just a whisper in the ear of the right journalist and an understanding of how the British work when there is a whiff of a shortage

@Strangevipers

Due to Covid not as much fuel was used and was sitting around

Fuel goes off

Gone off fuel can't be sold

Unsold fuel looses money

Government love money

Fuel must be sold quickly before it goes off

Enter the media !

I like your way of thinking !