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

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

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?

Surely the RAF can drive fuel vehicles (aircraft fuel?) -I can remember some of my WRAF friends drove large vehicles (eons ago)
Actually a few servicemen/women at the service stations supervising so people don't (a) use containers (b) fill only £30 max (or whatever) (b) allow key workers through first & than those with near empty tanks or who have hospital appointments & to photograph bad behaviour & call police.

As for walking 4 miles or more - has anybody looked at the weather forecast?

I’m in Essex , 15 minute wait maximum. I filled the tank up
Tesco shelves fully stocked apart from flavoured water which has been scarce for about 2 weeks
My friend lives next to a BP 1/2 mile from me , she could have driven on and off the forecourt twice a couple days ago , it was quiet
They queues are longer for sure but they move quickly due to staff outside directing drivers , I was about 20 cars behind and I waited around 15 minutes tops , this was about 6.15pm their delivery was 11am that morning around 8 pumps on the go

@Mike500

What we need is to look at fuel gauges on all cars in the queues- more than half a tank full & queuing--fine them

Who are we going to employ to do that?

@mumwon a couple of soldiers at each petrol station would basically be the entire British army. People are mad.

All caused by panic buying. On Saturday the tankers were delivering petrol and there were no 'shortages' The same number of tankers are still delivering the same amount of petrol it is the people who are being crazy. Simple solution to me seems to be make all purchases of fuel cost a minimum of £30 pounds..

@Mesoavocado

Found petrol today after running very low but didn’t go out of my way to find it. Waited out the crazies at the weekend and got on way home. No issues with food here either

Where on earth are you lot living??

I live in a town on the South coast. The situation is dire here. Queues for fuel are as long as they were on Friday (or whatever day it was that this lunacy began). There has been no let up.

Filling stations get a delivery; local FB groups discuss which stations have fuel, a huge queue assembles until the station runs out at which point it is closed and then the cycle begins again. The queues create long delays on the local roads with some routes impassible at certain times. We have not driven our diesel car since last week because we don’t have enough fuel in it to go anywhere, and we can’t get any fuel. Luckily my husband works at home and I have an electric car, thank goodness, as my daily work involves a lot of travelling. We’re lucky but many people don’t have an electric car or the option of working from home so they have no choice but to join one of the queues (a 45 min wait seems to be about average).

@lljkk

There's special training to drive tankers full of flammable fuel. Not every HGV driver can do this.

DS is in Army & can drive smaller trucks & tanks. He isn't qualified to drive a tanker full of diesel.

Sorry if it's been said already but anyone not understanding why you need to be qualified to transport highly flammable dangerous liquid around; have you not seen Thelma and Louise? I'm not saying they'll be shot at but you have to be reeeeeeeeeally careful it doesn't go wrong!

@Orangejuicemarathoner

so yes, I do think that calling in the army is justified. We have an army to protect our society.

Our society is protected. There is enough food available for everyone, albeit maybe not the food you particularly want. If we start to run out of food and people actually start to go hungry then further steps will be taken.

This whole situation is a joke. Usually takes about 15 minutes to drive the 3 miles to my daughters school. Today it took over an hour and 30 mins one way!! All because people were queueing for petrol stations and blocking the road. My daughter missed the paid for breakfast club and subsequently breakfast and sat hungry at school all morning. I’ve had to go out this evening and ensure we have fruit and bit she can eat for breakfast in the car in case we get stuck again tomorrow. I have to leave no later than 7:30 in the morning to get to work on time so sitting for an extra hour an a half is an absolute pain in the ass. I’d happily walk her if it wasn’t already so tight timing between dropping her off and getting to work. And because I was so late to start and work is so busy my dad was made longer because I had to make up the extra time. Thoroughly fed up of it all now to be perfectly honest

Keep hearing on the news today that it's improving. Not here it isn't, ( nr Oxford) Tried several garages today and none of them had fuel. Even if they all get fuel now, we will inevitably have queues for days to come judging by amount of people round here who need fuel.

Still no fuel here in East Suffolk

Again. We dont have enough Armed Forces personnel to man every bloody petrol station. There arent millions of them sitting about doing nothing all day! Today I was dealing with RAF reservists mobilised to drive ambulances here in Scotland. They cant be everywhere at once!!

Ytrigging

"Aren't you enjoying the fruits of Brexit".

Yes I am enjoying my life thank you very much.

There are 1,500 trained HGV drivers in the army capable of driving these trucks. There are 100,000 drivers. People who obsess on getting the army involved have no idea what they are talking about, but talking about them delivering fuel appeals to Express and Mail readers

@mumwon

Surely the RAF can drive fuel vehicles (aircraft fuel?) -I can remember some of my WRAF friends drove large vehicles (eons ago) Actually a few servicemen/women at the service stations supervising so people don't (a) use containers (b) fill only £30 max (or whatever) (b) allow key workers through first & than those with near empty tanks or who have hospital appointments & to photograph bad behaviour & call police.

There is an entire trade which is literally just transporting fuel, and some others will have the relevant qualifications too. Fuel is stored on camps so there are trained personnel who understand about fuel and the risks of storing, transporting and transferring it. The navy refuel at sea and all, logistically not sure what people think they do to fuel the vehicles etc. I don't think they should be sat at petrol stations, but despite being cut to the bone there's a lot of qualified personnel in various things, and part of the remit is to assist at home.

Eeriesilence -

"The whole of Britain benefitted from immigrants works and skills"

The construction industry didn't. It was decimated or have you forgotten the protests by British workers who were struggling to find work and Gordon Brown promising British jobs for British workers.

Where on Earth do you live??

They wouldnt be be deployed at petrol stations - the RLC (Army) and the RAF/RN equivalents could deploy their haz/chem, fuel qualified HGV drivers (there are several hundred of them)

This of course assumes that shortage of drivers is a real factor, and that the shortages will be eased a bit by supplying more drivers (and fuel depot qualified staff) to make the supply lines 24/7 (whilst still ensuring drivers get their proper rest breaks)

Why are people on here so often unable to see the bigger picture? OK, your son is in the army but doesn't have an HGV licence. No, but others do. The area you're in has no queues for petrol or missing items in the supermarket so the OP is exaggerating or, worse, lying. Your children walked 3 miles to school so children and parents who can't cope with an 8 mile round trip are over indulged wimps. Please can we have a bit of understanding for those having difficulties. They aren't all selfish panic buyers, some of them just want to ensure they can get to work and feed their families.
Instead of blaming each other why not turn on those who are really to blame? The government clique who were so keen to promote Brexit, incapable of making a reasonable exit agreement and who failed to act soon enough at the beginning of the pandemic and at several crucial points since.

@Supermum29

This whole situation is a joke. Usually takes about 15 minutes to drive the 3 miles to my daughters school. Today it took over an hour and 30 mins one way!! All because people were queueing for petrol stations and blocking the road. My daughter missed the paid for breakfast club and subsequently breakfast and sat hungry at school all morning. I’ve had to go out this evening and ensure we have fruit and bit she can eat for breakfast in the car in case we get stuck again tomorrow. I have to leave no later than 7:30 in the morning to get to work on time so sitting for an extra hour an a half is an absolute pain in the ass. I’d happily walk her if it wasn’t already so tight timing between dropping her off and getting to work. And because I was so late to start and work is so busy my dad was made longer because I had to make up the extra time. Thoroughly fed up of it all now to be perfectly honest

Do you have google maps or a satnav? Although you don’t need the directions it should tell you if there is a queue and how long.

I am Surrey boarders and work in Croydon- it’s chaos. Same for my cousin in Suffolk.

There are plenty of British Jobs for British people, they just don’t want to do them.

There still isn’t any fuel where we live 🤷‍♀️

Where's the army?

Did you miss the cuts to the defence budget that the Tory's made under austerity.

Army? What army?

This country is dire especially post Brexit.

@Mamamia7962

Ytrigging

"Aren't you enjoying the fruits of Brexit".

Yes I am enjoying my life thank you very much.

Good for you @Mamamia7962. Well done 👏🏻

Being unhindered by compassion must make for a very pleasant existence, I’m sure.