To disagree with NHS only petrol stations?

[pistachio20]

Some petrol stations around me have now said that they are only allowing in NHS staff to refuel - apparently checking ID.

I find this completely ridiculous and unfair - not only because the majority of NHS staff where I live can easily get public transport to work (most who I know don’t drive to work anyway, and get train/bus anyway due to lack of free parking!).

So many crucial jobs require people to drive, let alone people with caring responsibilities, mobility issues, etc.

AIBU to think that it’s unfair?

I own petrol stations. It’s a nightmare, you try to do the right thing by allowing some people to have fuel, but you get abused, it gets abused by people who don’t really need it. We’ve now had to say emergency vehicles only.

It was exactly the same back in 2000 during the fuel strikes when I was stood at the front with 2 police officers saying yes or no to people.

All I can do is emphasis there is plenty of fuel in the uk, there is no need to fill up unless you absolutely have to (I haven’t, if I run out my children will just get the bus to school). The quicker this happens the quicker it will settle down!

@Helenluvsrob

Everyone is an essential worker , pretty much. Covid taught us that surely ?

And I’m not bring ironic. The shelf stacker in aldi is needed in work , just like the a&e nurse.

I’m nhs. I have 1/4 tank. Fortunately I have a pushbike

Exactly. It's why there are shortages of all kinds of things at the moment. Just shows that no single individual works in a vacuum and that everything/everyone is dependant upon everyone else.

If we prioritise one group of workers to the detriment of other groups, it will just cause a knock on effect ("unforeseen circumstances") that eventually come back to bit the "preferred" workers on the bum in other ways.

Whilst NHS staff should not be the only people to get priority of course they should have priority. Arguing that would mean NHS admin staff will take all the petrol is ridiculous. The great majority of people wouldn't abuse the system and if they were working at home they wouldn't take the petrol. When I worked for the NHS, the majority of people used public transport to get to work anyway because the wasn't enough parking for everyone. Those that drive really needed to in contrast to many of the others insisting they can only get to work by car.

@Whitefire

Can I just say in defence of GP's, DH rang this morning regarding ds, spoke to the GP and had a f2f booked for a couple of hours after the call.

And??? How does this affect the availability of fuel?

@WormYourHonour

So many crucial jobs require people to drive, let alone people with caring responsibilities, mobility issues, etc.

Of the NHS people, by your decree, can get buses, why can't everyone else?

Mobile carers/home help, cleaners, delivery drivers, child minders doing various school runs and collections, people who need to collect their own children straight from work, people who care for relatives on top of working, people who can’t get public transport to work……

@AliceAbsolum

Jesus everyone is so obsessed with the nhs. I work for it and don't want special bloody treatment. Emergency service vehicles yes that's just sensible. An OT on his way to work as usual. No.

It’s the whole ‘critical workers’ list from lockdown again. The nurse also needs childcare/schools for her children in order to be able to go to do her job. So do early years staff and teachers get emergency fuel rations too? They might also need police/fire crew to be working in case there is an accident on the way to work, so they probably need fuel too. The nurse also needs to eat, so we need supermarket staff in so nhs staff can buy food. Before you know it, half the country are on the ‘emergency rations’ list and the whole thing is as unfair as closing schools in January when the majority (over 50%) of pupils were eligible for a place and were still going in. And as for showing your I’d badge in order to get petrol for your car, I can guarantee that system will be abused to make sure their spouse/parents/siblings etc all have enough fuel to get them around all week (thinking of one friend in particular).

@DancingQueen2018

I own petrol stations. It’s a nightmare, you try to do the right thing by allowing some people to have fuel, but you get abused, it gets abused by people who don’t really need it. We’ve now had to say emergency vehicles only.

It was exactly the same back in 2000 during the fuel strikes when I was stood at the front with 2 police officers saying yes or no to people.

All I can do is emphasis there is plenty of fuel in the uk, there is no need to fill up unless you absolutely have to (I haven’t, if I run out my children will just get the bus to school). The quicker this happens the quicker it will settle down!

Noone will often to you, so fixated on the idea its all down to brexit blah blah they won't to hear the truth that the media whipped up a frenzy and they themselves feel for it and went and panic bought

Belladonna that is a really good point! My sister has to pay to park at the hospital. She used to try and park close to the hospital but kept being abused by homeowners who objected to the hospital staff parking in their roads.

A blanket prioritising of NHS staff still prioritises those who can work from home.

You can say NHS workers won’t take advantage of it, but I know plenty who have before.

What would the NHS do without clean water, working waste water, gas electric, deliveries of supplies, factory workers who make the supplies, farmers, food processors to put dinner on their tables, supermarket workers, teachers/nursery staff to look after NHS workers kids, etc etc etc.

The last thing the NHS needs is the rest of the country grinding to a halt and suddenly facing an outbreak of cholera or whatever.

@Icantrememberthenameoftheartis

Belladonna that is a really good point! My sister has to pay to park at the hospital. She used to try and park close to the hospital but kept being abused by homeowners who objected to the hospital staff parking in their roads.

Well can you blame them geez how entitled

I’m not sure why nhs staff are prioritised over other key workers, what about police, fire, coast guards RNLI staff, off barracks army, farmers, supermarket staff etc. Just as vital (if not more so than 99% of NHS staff).

@AliceAbsolum

Jesus everyone is so obsessed with the nhs. I work for it and don't want special bloody treatment. Emergency service vehicles yes that's just sensible. An OT on his way to work as usual. No.

This!

I can't work out the issue. Some papers are saying once everyone has filled right up there is no shortage. Others say there is not enough petrol even if that were so? If it is just the former I can sit back for a few days until I am almost down to zero try to go nowhere and once everyone else has their full tank it will be back to normal.

If instead it is that there is not enough petrol coming through the country then we need the army not only to drive it but to go the DVLA where I think there are tends of thousands of heavy goods driving licence applications in a massive back log due to DVLA strikes.

How will it help if those very same NHS workers can't drive to work because their child's teachers cannot get into school to teach them, or the car mechanic can't get into work to repair their car.

Lots of people need petrol right now. We all depend on all of the jobs on society to keep it running smoothly. I have several family members who are nurses - I know they will be cringing at this virtue signaling from some garages.

@LibrariesGiveUsPower45321

A blanket prioritising of NHS staff still prioritises those who can work from home.

You can say NHS workers won’t take advantage of it, but I know plenty who have before.

What would the NHS do without clean water, working waste water, gas electric, deliveries of supplies, factory workers who make the supplies, farmers, food processors to put dinner on their tables, supermarket workers, teachers/nursery staff to look after NHS workers kids, etc etc etc.

The last thing the NHS needs is the rest of the country grinding to a halt and suddenly facing an outbreak of cholera or whatever.

There are always people that are going to abuse the system but doesn't mean the majority will. Most people if reminded that the NHS priority is only for those who really need to drive to work for the NHS are not going to take piss. Obviously NHS workers shouldn't be the only ones with priority but if this continues certain workers will need to have priority.

And??? How does this affect the availability of fuel?

Presumably it was mentioned because there is a myth going round on here and in the media/IRL that all GPs are still working from home and it's impossible to be seen in person.

Many posters have mentioned that "Lots of NHS workers are working from home so don't need fuel anyway".

A GP won't be able to see anyone face to face if they can't get to work. It may blow peoples' minds but some of them have also been doing home visits for housebound patients for a few months now. If the poster's husband was seen so soon today, it was deemed urgent. Urgent cases will be missed if doctors can't get to work. Or wrongly end up clogging up A&E or Walk In facilities and putting more strain on the NHS.

@pistachio20
Can’t you understand that other essential jobs also require people to use cars to get into work?
I am sure that most people can understand that, but the thing is if we can take care of a large proportion of those in essential jobs then that makes things easier. Those that work for the NHS also have ID which further makes things easier.

So yes there are some people in other roles or with other employers, but we we can reduce the total amount of essential workers having difficulty obtaining fuel then that improves things.

Absolute joke, I need to get to my work every day, and don’t have the option to work from home. My work is not walking distance and neither is my child’s school. Public transport is extremely limited where I live. I need to get to work or else I don’t get paid and I can’t pay my mortgage and bills. Sick of the glorifying of ‘essential workers’. everyone’s jobs are essential to them to live and earn money

@Xenia There aren't enough HGV drivers to transport the petrol. Yes there are a lot of HGV applications that take 5 months to process but also drivers have been leaving the profession due to poor working conditions and also the European drivers have left cos of Brexit. Average age of a HGV driver is 55. So yes the army probably needs to transport the petrol. Its a supply chain issue.

But the panic buying has not helped the situation and made it much worse!

@amillionmenonmars

How will it help if those very same NHS workers can't drive to work because their child's teachers cannot get into school to teach them, or the car mechanic can't get into work to repair their car.

Lots of people need petrol right now. We all depend on all of the jobs on society to keep it running smoothly. I have several family members who are nurses - I know they will be cringing at this virtue signaling from some garages.

In the largeish town where I live, two independent petrol stations (one at each end of the town) have agreed to sell to emergency services only. They have limited suppliers anyway because of all the panic buyers, but police cars, ambulances, fire engines etc. were having issues getting fuel both because of shortages and the amount of time they had to queue to fill up.

Whilst this might be inconvenient for some, it is probably better that the police are able to attend incidents, that ambulances can get to those in urgent need and fire engines can attend fires or cut people out of crashes than someone else, even if important to wider society, gets to fill up a bit quicker.

I lost all respect for NHS workers when there was a queue of THREE people at Aldi and someone showed up, flashed their NHS badge and pushed in.

it was a five minuet queue...

This pandemic has taught me that everyone is essential and should be treated fairly!

@Hoorayhenryyah

Absolute joke, I need to get to my work every day, and don’t have the option to work from home. My work is not walking distance and neither is my child’s school. Public transport is extremely limited where I live. I need to get to work or else I don’t get paid and I can’t pay my mortgage and bills. Sick of the glorifying of ‘essential workers’. everyone’s jobs are essential to them to live and earn money

I am sorry, but neither you, nor I, are that important in the grand scheme of things. We will certainly not die, or cause the deaths of others if we lose out on a few days of income, or even if we are unable to pay our mortgage.

If police can not attend crimes then criminals run riot, if fire engines can not attend crashes then people die, or burn to death, if ambulances cannot operate then people die in their homes, if doctors and nurses cannot get to work then people die, or their cancer progresses untreated.

Our jobs might be important to us, but they are not essential, to think they are is incredibly selfish.

One thing this does so is how ridiculously reliant on cars we have become. No wonder the earth and our waistbands are fucked! We need to stop building things which rely on cars, out of town shopping, housing developments in the middle of no where, fear of walking more than 1 mile. Overburdened life’s making us rush everywhere.

@onlychildhamster @Xenia we have (until last Friday) had absolutely no problem with our fuel supply chain (don’t get me started on the shops however). The leaked BP report was talking about 5 stations out of 1200.

There’s very little slack in the system, which is why it’s taking a while to get it all back out again, petrol demand tends to be fairly consistent so easy to plan. Make no mistake the shortage of HGV drivers is a huge issue for the food supply but it’s only a tiny part of the fuel. The main part is all the extra buying.

I agree with you OP. I work at a shop, luckily in walking distance from my house. Today a lady I served, who is a home carer, was in tears worrying how she will get to her clients tomorrow. Elderly and vulnerable who will need feeding/medication/personal care. It's an absolute shit show, there are many many other jobs that are absolutely vital, as well as NHS.