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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To disagree with NHS only petrol stations?

638 replies

pistachio20 · 27/09/2021 11:08

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?

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 27/09/2021 12:54

I can see the reason for this and am good with it. The other stations can serve others, it’s too complex to have a whole list of people who are emergency workers and hugely open to abuse.

PhoboPhobia · 27/09/2021 12:54

@girlmom21

Many, many people who work for the NHS have worked from home for the last 18 months. It's a daft idea. It's like when all NHS workers got priority access to supermarkets etc.

What about carers who work for private companies? They're more likely to need the fuel than anyone working in a single location.

Absolutely this and I say that as one of those people. By definition I can get petrol in this way but I haven't been near a workplace since March 2020.

I would not want to use my NHS ID to get fuel ahead of say my SIL who is a home care manager and needs fuel to do visits or anyone who needs fuel to get to any job for that matter.

UseOfWeapons · 27/09/2021 12:55

No car, so no skin in the game.
The NHS has not asked for this, and just because some petrol stations have made that decision, it not the fault of those of us who work for the NHS, nor will everyone who is eligible take advantage of it.

We haven’t asked for discounts or special treatment, to my knowledge, in my Trust. I agree that there should simply be a cap on how much you can fill up, for everyone. I saw a bloke lifting out 4jerrycans from his car this morning. That’s not on.

However, it’s an issue that will be self-limiting, as once people have manage to fill up, demand will be lower than normal for a few days, allowing the dust to settle. I have always agreed that there are many essential workers, who may not get the recognition they deserve, but that’s not the fault of NHS staff.

CoffeeAndKittens · 27/09/2021 12:55

Rather than trying to decide who is "worthy" of getting special treatment at petrol stations, wouldn't it just be lovely if people could just use their common sense and work out if they actually need to fill up or if they could wait a little bit... Then everyone who genuinely needed fuel, even if they weren't on a special list, could get it.

Or we could just stop listening to the scaremongers and behave normally and then there would be no need to decide if someone's journey is more important than someone else's!

SylviaTrench · 27/09/2021 12:55

@Wineiscooling

I don't think any of us who work in NHS are asking for special treatment or asking to be applauded. To be honest, if I run out of petrol before the end of the week and don't make it out to see my very sick patients I will be devastated for them but having not had a single sick day through this pandemic, working under very understaffed conditions with heavier and sicker workloads due to patients not wanting to go into hospital / care homes/ hospice , I am ready for a break. So if you think I am no more worthy of petrol than others , I'm fine with that. I'll call my work, then my patients, explain the situation and put my feet up. It will be hard, of course, telling the wife/husband/son/daughter that their loved one will have to just die in pain, no I can't visit to prescribe medication that would help, no you'll just have to watch them cry with pain and have those memories for the rest of your life.......
I have watched relatives die at home. I have phoned, begged and pleaded, for someone to come out to administer pain relief. Guess what? No pain relief. This was before the pandemic started, so that can’t be used as an excuse.

I genuinely hope you get the fuel you need, and that the patients get the care they need.

I also would like food, water and electricity. So I really, really hope the workers who provide those things get their essential fuel too.
No power generation workers going to work would mean the fuel stations can’t actually open, for one thing.

XenoBitch · 27/09/2021 12:55

@Silverswirl

Those that need to save lives and treat people in a hospital should be given priority absolutely, along with police and fire persons and care home workers. Having doctors and nurses treating emergencies being able to get there is literally the highest priority - tell me one other job that would be more of a priority than that?
Doctors and nurses can't do their job without the rest of the staff who work for the NHS.
Rhubarbsoup · 27/09/2021 12:56

[quote Apandemicyousay]@Malin52. Steve's job was outsourced years ago. He won't have an NHS lanyard[/quote]
Depressingly too true.

BoredZelda · 27/09/2021 12:56

How do buses get petrol, do they have their own petrol stations

Have you ever seen a bus at a petrol station?

3amgoogle · 27/09/2021 12:56

It would be helpful right now in each area to have a petrol station for key workers.

'NHS only' might be galling if abused, but essential care and treatment is currently at risk. I wonder if you'd say it was virtue signalling if you had your surgery slot cancelled due to staff not being able to get to work?

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 27/09/2021 12:57

@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?

Because some of them need their cars for work. A home carer employed privately or a taxi driver taking disabled children to school for example.
BoredZelda · 27/09/2021 12:58

Doctors and nurses can't do their job without the rest of the staff who work for the NHS.

Sure, but those staff done always need to travel to work.

Doctors and nurses will be much busier when carers aren’t able to get to their clients’ homes.

Lovealovestory · 27/09/2021 12:59

its all ridiculous. a spending cap would do the same job. just set the pumps to only go as far as £30. one fill per day per car or something.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 27/09/2021 12:59

@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 think it depends where they work. Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow has terrible public transport.
Judashascomeintosomemoney · 27/09/2021 13:00

Just heard a petrol tanker driver on the radio saying he has struggled to get diesel for his tanker in order to drive the petrol to all the stations he needs to deliver fuel to! Sounds insane but apparently, no he couldn’t just use some of the fuel in his tanker as it belongs to someone else, he’s just contracted to transport and deliver it. Maybe petrol tanker drivers should be prioritised…………..

TartanJumper · 27/09/2021 13:01

Those that need to save lives and treat people in a hospital should be given priority absolutely, along with police and fire persons and care home workers.
Having doctors and nurses treating emergencies being able to get there is literally the highest priority - tell me one other job that would be more of a priority than that?

Ambulance staff bringing the emergencies in? For which you need a team of people including ambulance cleaners, mechanics, call handlers etc.

XenoBitch · 27/09/2021 13:01

@BoredZelda

Doctors and nurses can't do their job without the rest of the staff who work for the NHS.

Sure, but those staff done always need to travel to work.

Doctors and nurses will be much busier when carers aren’t able to get to their clients’ homes.

Cleaners can't work from home. Neither can porters, or the people who sterilise and pack surgical instruments. Or the catering staff who make sure the wards have food. I could go on.
Explosivefarts · 27/09/2021 13:01

@BoredZelda

Doctors and nurses can't do their job without the rest of the staff who work for the NHS.

Sure, but those staff done always need to travel to work.

Doctors and nurses will be much busier when carers aren’t able to get to their clients’ homes.

Exactly the NHS couldn’t cope if all the hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers in the UK suddenly couldn’t visit their family members to provide care. It would crush the NHS . Unpaid carers like myself save the NHS £119 billion a year but apparently our need for petrol is not as important as NHS workers.
Gimlisaxe · 27/09/2021 13:02

I think they should have something for emergency vehicles.

But the last time this happened, my mum took my dad's car and filled it for him using her NHS pass, he didn't work for the NHS and she could walk to work, so people will still find a loophole

WandaVision2 · 27/09/2021 13:03

@SylviaTrench

Personally I'd prioritise utility company workers over NHS staff, unless all the hospitals can actually run without electricity or water. Power stations and water treatment plants are usually out of town, and run 24/7, so not always possible for the staff to use public transport.
I agree with this. DH works at a power station. It is in a remote location that is not served by public transport.

If the power stations have to shut because of lack of staff the country, including the NHS, will not be able to function.

Doglicks · 27/09/2021 13:05

Absolutely sick to death of NHS workers being treated like Gods.

When i can actually get a GP appointment and see someone face to face, my son can have his much needed operation that he's been waiting 18 months for and my mum can actually get her appointment to have her skin cancer removed,THEN i will have a bit of resect for the heap of shite that is the NHS.

Why the fuck should any old NHS office worker get special preference? What, so they can get to work, but every other fucker can't? Load of bollocks.

GoodnightGrandma · 27/09/2021 13:06

I need petrol to drive from patient to patient, I don’t work in hospital.
If I’ve no petrol I can’t do my job.

TartanJumper · 27/09/2021 13:07

Yep, agree. National grid etc are critical infrastructure.
No job is more important than any other in a vacuum.
No good having NHS staff in if equipment can't be used because of no power.

EstuaryBird · 27/09/2021 13:08

The bottom line is that 90% of people who run a car have their own ‘priority’….and we all think that our priority trumps everyone else’s.

I think that every petrol station should refuse to serve anyone who works for ‘the media’ because without their scaremongering this wouldn’t even be an issue.

They shouldn’t serve any MPs or party members who are going to swan off to their party ‘conferences’ either until they’ve sorted all this shit out.

No doubt the smug bitch down the road will be creaming herself in anticipation of a bit more NHS adoration. Saw her before swanning to the front of the queue in Asda waving her NHS pass about…she works in an office 2days a week for fuck sake.

Sorry about the language but I’m so sick of this whole unnecessary shitstorm.

Jakie7700 · 27/09/2021 13:08

My brother is a HGV driver and told me today he can't get to work as he has no fuel and all the petrol stations near him have run out.

His base is quite remote and he works night's so no public transport. And from what he's told me he's not the only one lots of his colleagues are having the same issue. If they can't get fuel there will be even less fuel at petrol stations and food on the shelf due to the madness.

Shurl · 27/09/2021 13:10

@malificent7

I hope none of you have heart attacks, strokes or accidents in the next few weeks...those unworthy NHS staff will have to deal with you.
This attitude is the problem. If you don't agree that nhs workers deserve special treatment than you think you are better than them.

No, most people disagreeing with NHS special treatment have a lot of respect for those doing the jobs, but also have that same respect for other people doing equally critical jobs.