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?

YANBU OP. I'm just listening to radio 4 - a teacher has actually had to book a b&b for the near the school he works at because he doesn't have the fuel to do his normal drive and none of his local fuel stations have any supply. I'm sure there are other parents on here, like me, that didn't have the greatest home school experience and think that teachers are very very vital.

I'm tottaly sick of priority for NHS workers. Discounts for NHS workers. Now petrol for NHS workers. A lot of them are very well paid and have job security and good pensions and very favourable sick leave terms.They dont need extra help from anybody.

It would be ironic if the tanker drivers due to deliver the fuel couldn't get fuel to get to work as they aren't NHS.

Selling fuel on Ebay is against their terms- find the listing and report him.

While that's great to know and I am genuinely happy Ebay doesn't allow it, he'll just sell it on Facebook or some other medium. It's not going to stop him selling and people will be desperate enough to buy it. His name and address was on his truck and people were talking about reporting him to the firebrigade as a hazard.

They are even selling jerry cans of it on our local food delivery apps.

What the garages should have done, is check the fuel gauges of thousands of idiot people coming in to 'top up', putting in 10-20 quid so they could have a full fucking tank!

As for NHS staff having priority, yes I think front line, emergency, absolutely essential people should. The rest of them can wait their bloody turn.

You can just get yourself a bus or a train to hospital as well then should you need urgent medical attention cos the paramedics etc can’t get to work.
Oh and when you get to the hospital there are no staff there because they are all stuck at home without petrol. YABU

I agree with you OP. There are many key workers who don't work for the NHS and many more people who simply need to fill up to get to work or take their DC to school or who have no other way of getting to the shops and getting their shopping home.

@Samcro

what about carers? I get fed up with the NHS being prioritised. not all nhs workers are essentail.

Exactly. Mil has dementia and is in a care home. One of the cares who works there has a friend who works in the community. She had to cancel all of her home visits on Saturday as she ran out of fuel. Someone else we know has an elderly parent who has had no carers visit her all weekend. These are very vulnerable people who have been left to fend alone.

I'm doing nhs essential home visits today in Somerset, insulin round etc. Pain relief, terminal care and have one bar left on my tank. Dont make me laugh there are no buses here to speak of, maybe two a day. Its a very rural area and I cant get petrol anywhere. I've tried 7 places today. Somebody is not going to get there morphine today if I dont get petrol soon.

I will be clapping outside my local petrol station today.

If it was needed to "ration" fuel, I would imagine there are a lot of jobs that should take higher precedence over 90% of NHS staff. Anyone whose job is actually driving for example. If needed, I am sure there are contigencies in place to collect staff from home. I certainly had such a contigency in place when I managed a care home, and had to use it at the start of the pandemic as social care staff were not deemed key workers and couldn't get a taxi.

NHS staff are fantastic and no disrespect is meant to the vast majority of them. But in this scenario, most should be further down the pecking order than taxi drivers/self employed delivery drivers/home carers.

My son's friend and his disabled sister are not attending their respective colleges today because their dad has no fuel. There are no public transport routes suitable for them. Sister would not be able to travel alone anyway.

@Becca19962014

It should be the same rules as in July 2020. All essential workers, requiring access to car, were allowed fuel.

Proof of eligibility needed. It worked fine.

Then healthcare workers' dogwalkers were claiming to also be essential and it never really ended and the whole thing was a farce.

Yes and no. Some shifts finish after public transport finishes so they can't 'just get a bus' but yep, non essential workers would be flashing their badges. I'm a health professional who doesn't work for the NHS. I'd be screwed but my job is essential.

@countrygirl99

It would be ironic if the tanker drivers due to deliver the fuel couldn't get fuel to get to work as they aren't NHS.

😂😂😂 this

Usual fetishisation of the NHS. Are we to line up on the forecourts clapping them next?

I'm so over this worshipping of the NHS, I understand emergency vehicle not a problem but not the entire NHS.

Literally so sick of how we should be so grateful and don't complain, meanwhile we have some staff who have appalling bedside manner, long delays a shit gp service.

But we pay our taxes that supports this system so its not exactly free, its not judt as expensive as private would be

This is so frustrating. I would understand if they linked it to doctors / nurses / paramedics - but those guys are often too busy to even consider refuelling unless absolutely urgent. So it will be the bloated nhs admin and management who have been wfh since the start of the pandemic who come swanning in for their petrol.

Compared to them me and my girls, as nursery practitioners, are a zillion times more important.

It’s fine when nobody can get food because the nhs office clerk needs the petrol more than the logistic workers who get the food to your stores.

There are a lot of employees of other sectors whose employment is just as important as NHS employees.
Off the top of my head I can think of....
Care / support workers
Police officers
Prison officers
Firefighters
Funeral services
Refuse collectors
Teachers / teaching support staff
Breakdown services
HGV drivers
Bus drivers
Train drivers

It’s just virtue signalling again. All hail the NHS.

I’ve noticed people have already started spouting their importance about being key workers again. It’s a bloody strange cult.

NHS staff are fantastic

Well some of them are. Just like some staff at any other business are fantastic. Some of them are utterly useless, just as with any other business.