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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

OK, this isn't funny any more. Where's the army?

999 replies

Orangejuicemarathoner · 27/09/2021 18:53

One quarter of staff and students late to school this morning, and 10% didn't get there at all. It has been announced that, excepting physical disability, any student within 4 miles or adult within 6 miles will be expected to walk in, but Its expected to be worse tomorrow with a good chance we will be closed by Wednesday.

AA reporting over 100 "incidents" on the road within a 10 mile radius of the school - mostly roads blocked, and mostly by queues outside petrol stations.

I struggled to get home by bike, because of the chaos on the roads - I got off my bike and walked several miles of it.

I called in at a supermarket on the way home. The shelves were more than three quarters empty. No bread or milk. So I'm sitting here drinking black tea planning rice for dinner instead of cheese on toast.

I know its not a catastrophe that I spent an extra hour getting home, and dont have milk in my tea, but what is that saying about the state we are in?

AIBU to say the army should be called in. What have we got an army for? Surely, an organisation of thousands of fit, capable, organised individuals, with vehicles and capacity and skills in logistics is exactly what we need to be utilised in this situation right here right now.

PS, is it ok to feed dog food to cats? does anyone know?

OP posts:
Whammyyammy · 28/09/2021 06:44

@Bluntness100

We don’t need the army, we just need the absolute twats panicking to stop.
Yep, was in my local petrol station shop getting some bits(walked), and the guys bill in front of me came to £7.84, the cashier commented on the odd amount, he said that's all he could get in his tank to fill it. Watched him walk out to a big Volvo... so he must of had about a 90%+ full tank .... but still queued for £7 worth of fuel
MrsLargeEmbodied · 28/09/2021 06:47

there are people waiting to be hgv drivers, poor sods, but due to covid they cannot get their tests

londonrach · 28/09/2021 06:49

Where are you op? Midland s here shops full of food and petrol ok limited but there.

DanglingMod · 28/09/2021 06:53

Why would ppl bother quoting an area as large as "the NE" or "the Midlands " and say "it's fine here." There's no unleaded at all in my city or surrounding villages up to 20+ miles away. Midlands. Not that helpful.

Polkadots2021 · 28/09/2021 06:55

@Bluntness100

We don’t need the army, we just need the absolute twats panicking to stop.
Doesn't matter why it's happening though does it? Result is the same. It's happening and we need army or whoever to step in.
HalzTangz · 28/09/2021 06:58

I have seen queue at stations and fully closed stations, but no dangerous driving like you describe.
As for supermarkets I see shortages, but again not to what you describe.

Are you exaggerating slightly?

Polkadots2021 · 28/09/2021 07:00

[quote ImaRetriever]@patkinney I agree.

There will be more short term pain for long term gain, hopefully.

It is impossible to see the long term advantages for regaining the right to govern ourselves again.
Of course there will be hickups as we take back control of our trade which we have outsourced to the EU for decades. It's a colossal job to undertake, even the administrative structures that need putting into place to steam ahead with that change.

Regulations that were put in place by the EU for the advantage of large corperations that monopolised the markets for years making it impossible for small and medium sized buisnesses to grow are going to be very upset about these changes, as we can see with BP.

Free trade will be scary to impliment.

Whoever you voted for during Brexit we have now left and choose not to be governed by an unelected group of people who in many peoples eyes were becoming evermore corupt. However much the remainers wish to call the leavers racist is rediculous. Imigration will not change, there will always be large immigration but now we have the choice of who we allow in our borders to work, we want to be inclusive of all the world.

We can get the best of the best if we wish, not just cheap labour to satify large corperations with their foothold over our economy.

There will be many benefits to young generations if buisneses are allowed to move to Britain and restrictions are lifted. It's going to take years to change this view of training and teaching our future generations the trades and skills needed instead of pushing everybody into universities or at the opposite end of the scale doing jobs that can never be classed as having a living wage in Britain and topped up with tax credits.
Hopefully new trades and skills through a stronger more diverse economy will give future generations the confidence and self esteem to create fewer divisions in our society, being in a worthwhile job helps.

All in all this will take time, to make, find and re new trade agreements with new countries at the same time building stronger links with the rest of the world.
This is global and I think in years to come we will wonder why we were so insular and restricted into thinking we could only survive within the EU.

I don't look at Brexiteers as fools who don't like Europeans rather I look at the British remainers who go full into protectionism mode to keep the status quo, whist teaching the young that it is in their best interest to remain in Europe.
Brexiters love Europeans, they are our neighbours, we just dont want them to be our landlords.

PS. I would let the cat have dog food this one time but I doubt it will eat it, cats have more taste.

I wait for the onslaught.[/quote]
Businesses don't want to move back to Britain though. While Brexit voters may think we are the centre of the world, the rest of the world sees a little island stuck panic buying petrol, slagging off foreigners, short on heating, with loads of big corps going bust or moving overseas for better profits. Of course businesses are 'allowed' to come over here but doubt may would want to. Honest to god I'm embarrassed sometimes about the state of where we are at.

itsgettingwierd · 28/09/2021 07:01

My local station has queues for hours on Friday. From 8am and still queuing when I got home at 9pm.

It's now closed as no fuel.

I managed to get some in a village station that only had diesel. Limited to £30 so I filled half tank which I wouldn't usually do this time if the month as fill on payday.

We also had queues already at stations yesterday at 6am.

Add this to the motorway closures we had at the weekend the traffic has been horrendous.

Aldi Aldo was fairly empty Saturday but there were more staff than usual on the shop floor restocking and plenty of stuff to go on shelves.

I5 just didn't seem to have made it there yet!

HalzTangz · 28/09/2021 07:03

It was on the news last night that several countries in Europe are having these issues in that their is a massive shortfall of drivers. Not sure why you think it's only the UK

uggmum · 28/09/2021 07:06

I went to Sainsbury’s in my local city (W Yorks) at the weekend. The shelves were full.

I also went to York, (N Yorks) again the shelves in Sainsbury’s were full of all essential and non essential food.

Minimal queues at all the petrol stations I passed.

I am in various neighbourhood groups on Facebook and they are all identifying the petrol stations with fuel.

It no worse than when the tanker drivers were on strike a few years ago.

All the sanctimonious posts from people thinking they are more deserving than others is really annoying.

I have an electric car so I am not affected by fuel panic buying (I am not calling it a fuel shortage as it isn't one)

Lokdok · 28/09/2021 07:11

Why are people pretending it's just down to panic buying? It's been a good few weeks here that there's been no chicken in shops, barely any fruit and coffee shops have had signs up saying half the selection's not there due to logistic and staff shortage issues. Is it really that different in other cities? Ambulances / fire engines / police can't get through the traffic from the fuel queues. And why does everyone keep posting saying 'look at all these twats panic buying' not realising the irony that they are also in the queue. Maybe everyone was just short of petrol? It's been a week!

uggmum · 28/09/2021 07:12

@HotPenguin
I am with Octopus energy. I have a car charging tariff which allows me to charge my car at home.

For £1.40 I get around 180 miles. I also have access to free super fast chargers.

I fully charged my car for free at my local council charger the other day.

Even if electricity prices go up my travel costs will still be substantially lower than using a fossil fuel.

In addition, the majority of my electricity comes from renewable sources

Lovinghannah · 28/09/2021 07:19

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58713770
There you go!

Benjispruce4 · 28/09/2021 07:20

@Lokdok I’ve seen no chicken or food shortages in my Aldi.

patkinney · 28/09/2021 07:22

@ Polkadots2021 Re: "Businesses don't want to move back to Britain though. While Brexit voters may think we are the centre of the world, the rest of the world sees a little island stuck panic buying petrol, slagging off foreigners, short on heating, with loads of big corps going bust or moving overseas for better profits. Of course businesses are 'allowed' to come over here but doubt may would want to. Honest to god I'm embarrassed sometimes about the state of where we are at."

This is rubbish and typical of the anti-British sentiment tht isn't really helping. Google 'major financial centres in the world' and London comes out on top. It is the centre of the business world.

(I dont know why, but I can't quote you)

Lokdok · 28/09/2021 07:23

[quote Benjispruce4]@Lokdok I’ve seen no chicken or food shortages in my Aldi.[/quote]
Lucky you, our Aldi is very short and so is Tesco. I guess it must be regional. But it's definitely real and will spread everywhere. I know Boris is inviting drivers back, but only until Christmas so many won't want to come. It's a shit offer. They'll be forced to slowly unpick Brexit piece by piece.

SW1amp · 28/09/2021 07:24

@Lokdok

Why are people pretending it's just down to panic buying? It's been a good few weeks here that there's been no chicken in shops, barely any fruit and coffee shops have had signs up saying half the selection's not there due to logistic and staff shortage issues. Is it really that different in other cities? Ambulances / fire engines / police can't get through the traffic from the fuel queues. And why does everyone keep posting saying 'look at all these twats panic buying' not realising the irony that they are also in the queue. Maybe everyone was just short of petrol? It's been a week!
No noticeable shortage of any of those things near me

The only gaps on the shelves were fizzy water, and that’s been for about a month

Rhubarbsoup · 28/09/2021 07:28

Supermarkets are getting fuel deliveries daily, many figures in the fuel industry have confirmed that there isn't a shortage of petrol, nor a shortage of HVG drivers who have the additional qualification to transport fuel. The issue is BP reporting a tiny, tiny, tiny number of garages affected and people going bananas. Bringing the army in to deliver fuel will no doubt make the issue worse as people panic further. Have also noticed empty shelves, but no is going to starve, there is still plenty of food just perhaps less choice. How do you propose fairly utilising the army to deliver food to corpotations that turn a profit? One lorry for each supermarket?

user89000005 · 28/09/2021 07:28

The government have put the army on stand by.

The armed forces (NOT just the army) are ALWAYS on standby for Op Escalin. Complete non story.

waterlego · 28/09/2021 07:29

@shauabs

What a massive overreaction. Our local petrol station was open today, no issues, very small queue. I had a full ASDA shop delivered on Saturday, one substitution for cereal 🙄 Threads like this just fuel the ridiculous behaviour.
Have you considered that this might vary according to region? I’m in a town on the South coast and things are pretty dire here. Lots of food shortages in supermarkets and the petrol situation is a nightmare.
user89000005 · 28/09/2021 07:32

Why are people pretending it's just down to panic buying?

Because the fuel issue is completely down to panic buying, you're conflating the HGV driver shortage with a fuel driver shortage the latter of which does not exist nationally. Which is exactly what BP wanted, now they've got their visa changes and can keep their wages lower than they should be, well done everyone, great work.

Onlinedilema · 28/09/2021 07:42

My local petrol station is fine, no queue and plenty of petrol.
If I run out I run out, I won't be making any extra effort to get into work. Selfish people who fill up their cars whilst not having to drive can then do without, that's how I see it.
I imagine the people rushing to cram an extra £5 into their fuel guzzling vehicles are the same people who bought all the toilet rolls and food during the pandemic. They probably ended up throwing a lot of food away too.
As I get older I'm starting to dislike other gun and more and more. I would be worried if I can't get pet food, that concerned me last time when the supermarket put restrictions on everything.
As for the op, 6 miles is too far for me to walk and I often walk to work but not 6 miles. 4 miles for older children is fine. My dcs could walk that far both now and when they were little.
I'm just too old and worn out to do it now!

mpsw · 28/09/2021 07:43

Why are people pretending it's just down to panic buying?

Because it's perfectly clear that's what has been going on. Normal consumption patterns do not lead to mile-long queues outside petrol stations every Friday/Saturday.

And it's less clear what else is good no on - some posts on this thread say there are enough drivers (and Army not needed for that role), other courses assert that UK needs up to 1000 more fuel tanker drivers (any anywhere from 10 to 100 times more of non-specialist HGV drivers)

KaptainKaveman · 28/09/2021 07:43

@Talktalkchat

Plenty of petrol in manchester
That's helpful. Hmm
Incognito22333 · 28/09/2021 07:52

Have prices for electric cars shot up yet?

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