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?

I don't understand @BreadInCaptivity. Why don't you go on the train with him? I don't have a car, so this is how my kids went to university. Of course there is every possibility of having a long wait for a bus or taxi at the other end, which we didn't have, but with two of you, or 3 if his father comes too, you can carry everything he needs for a month, easily.

This is how students go to university if their parents dont have cars

also, many students done bring bedding, as it is difficult on public transport, and most university halls sell it cheaply.

It makes far more sense to buy it where you need it, rather than buy it at home and transport it

I went to uni in another country so I just had my 20kg luggage allowance on the plane

This is not an issue the Army need to sort out.
This shambles of a government need to step up not the Army.

@Orangejuicemarathoner

I don't understand *@BreadInCaptivity*. Why don't you go on the train with him? I don't have a car, so this is how my kids went to university. Of course there is every possibility of having a long wait for a bus or taxi at the other end, which we didn't have, but with two of you, or 3 if his father comes too, you can carry everything he needs for a month, easily.

This is how students go to university if their parents dont have cars

I don’t understand why some posters are confused by the fact that some parents, not knowing there was going to be petrol problem, had planned to drive and take the equipment they bought weeks/months ago with them

And it still doesn’t help when its miles to the station and miles from the station at the other end to halls…with no guarantee of taxis or buses

Ds2 went last weekend and we had petrol so it wasn’t the issue for us that it maybe for other posters

Incompetence isn’t an accidental feature of this government. It’s baked into their whole approach, with the tone from the top being set by Boris’s wing it philosophy of everything. When advancement to the cabinet depends on being a true believer that experts don’t know best, it’s not surprising that this bunch of clowns and third raters get overwhelmed when events prove complex. From covid testing, through exam time chaos, to holidays on the beach during Foreign policy crises. Every time the going gets tough they fuck it up.

The whole country is turning into a shambolic laughing stock.

@Orangejuicemarathoner

also, many students done bring bedding, as it is difficult on public transport, and most university halls sell it cheaply.

It makes far more sense to buy it where you need it, rather than buy it at home and transport it

Perhaps so but we didn't anticipate that we wouldn't be able to take it.

Yes we could all go on the train at massive expense because we haven't booked in advance but even with 3 of us we can't take everything so we'd need to do the round trip again.

What a student needs varies a lot depending on the course they are doing please remember.

I'm looking at alternative options (including hiring an electric car if necessary).

But it's just shit. Really shit.

And frankly I'm getting a bit pissed off with posters suggesting I shouldn't be upset about the situation.

Not particularly spending extra money but mainly about how the whole experience will impact DS.

@RufustheBadgeringReindeer

Thank you

[quote BreadInCaptivity]@RufustheBadgeringReindeer

Thank you [/quote]
No worries at all

Going to uni really threw ds2, he ended up coming home for another night!

**The irony is that May's Brexit deal - which Johnson helped destroy -wasn't actually bad in comparison.

Absolutely agree with you. May’s deal, from what I understand, was actually what most people wanted from Brexit. Yet voted down.

Seriously how many parents would consider this remotely acceptable?

It's actually a pretty seminal time for parents and children taking them to Uni.

I want to see his accommodation. Help him set his room up. Say goodbye properly, know he's as settled as possible and has everything he needs (items that we've been buying and packing for over the last few weeks).

But no - put him on a train, re-buy everything on Amazon and cross fingers he's not stranded at the train station.

FFS - going to Uni is supposed to be an exciting, positive event not an endurance event

SHIT - I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m in London with 3 other kids and a job! I haven’t got time to be schlepping off to Manchester with a fully grown adult male y too yuck him in!
Mine went off to uni in Manchester on the train, with a backpack and a prayer. He was fine. Amazon and Argos delivered the basics. He got on with it. Including the bus from the train station. In 3 years I never visited d as my if his uni accommodation - I’m sure most student digs are pretty similar. Anyway, he’s finished now and back in London, not scarred by getting on the big train all by himself at 18 AT ALL!
We don’t need the army, it will be over soon.

@BreadInCaptivity I agree it is awful that you might not be able to drive your child to university, and I would want to do the same.
On this thread, people keep saying that we will all manage with walking long distances because of no petrol or manage not being able to get places, and I guess most people will. But we are not a very low-income country. People are wanting to do very normal things and can't.

SHIT - I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m in London with 3 other kids and a job! I haven’t got time to be schlepping off to Manchester with a fully grown adult male y too yuck him in!
Mine went off to uni in Manchester on the train, with a backpack and a prayer. He was fine. Amazon and Argos delivered the basics. He got on with it. Including the bus from the train station. In 3 years I never visited d as my if his uni accommodation - I’m sure most student digs are pretty similar. Anyway, he’s finished now and back in London, not scarred by getting on the big train all by himself at 18 AT ALL!

Where on earth has anyone said their children can’t get a train?

Bold fail

Dontcha just hate ‘em

Sorry…that last post is on the wrong thread

Ive asked mnhq to delete

That and the bold fail means I’m going to bed 😀

It's the wankers filling up for no reason that's the issue, nothing else

@Daddynotmummy

It's the wankers filling up for no reason that's the issue, nothing else

Right, so that's why the government are readying and training the army to deliver fuel supplies is it? Don't be ridiculous. No other country in the world is experiencing this. The govt were warned some time ago and have not bothered to take action.

@Toomuchtrouble4me

Seriously how many parents would consider this remotely acceptable?

It's actually a pretty seminal time for parents and children taking them to Uni.

I want to see his accommodation. Help him set his room up. Say goodbye properly, know he's as settled as possible and has everything he needs (items that we've been buying and packing for over the last few weeks).

But no - put him on a train, re-buy everything on Amazon and cross fingers he's not stranded at the train station.

FFS - going to Uni is supposed to be an exciting, positive event not an endurance event

SHIT - I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m in London with 3 other kids and a job! I haven’t got time to be schlepping off to Manchester with a fully grown adult male y too yuck him in!
Mine went off to uni in Manchester on the train, with a backpack and a prayer. He was fine. Amazon and Argos delivered the basics. He got on with it. Including the bus from the train station. In 3 years I never visited d as my if his uni accommodation - I’m sure most student digs are pretty similar. Anyway, he’s finished now and back in London, not scarred by getting on the big train all by himself at 18 AT ALL!
We don’t need the army, it will be over soon.

Good for you and your DS.

But you'd obviously planned and prepared for this situation.

You hasn't bought things in advance.

You were in a location at both "ends" that made transport by train feasible (in our situation it would require 2 changes of train) and no certainty of taxi transport at either point of the journey.

We didn't anticipate this, so our circumstances are very different and there's no guarantees that even if we bought things to deliver they would arrive in time.

It's not a situation of top trumps about how children get to Uni.

It's about how perfectly reasonable plans are being disrupted by a combination of panic buying and govt incompetence and it's not unreasonable to be utterly pissed off and upset by it.

[quote Tealightsandd]www.euronews.com/2021/09/28/uk-lorry-driver-shortage-a-stark-example-of-a-wider-european-problem[/quote]
Nobody's saying there isn't a driver shortage in Europe, but the UK is the only country with food or fuel shortages.

I wouldn't send my child off on the train to university alone unless I had no choice.

You can't just get the army to drive petrol about, there has to be special training as it's hazardous. That all takes time. It's twits of people panic buying and the stupid media fuelling the panic buying in the first place. There was no need for this. What the heck is wrong with the UK? Full of morons.

SHIT - I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m in London with 3 other kids and a job! I haven’t got time to be schlepping off to Manchester with a fully grown adult male y too yuck him in!
Mine went off to uni in Manchester on the train, with a backpack and a prayer. He was fine.Amazon and Argos delivered the basics. He got on with it. Including the bus from the train station. In 3 years I never visited d as my if his uni accommodation - I’m sure most student digs are pretty similar. Anyway, he’s finished now and back in London, not scarred by getting on the big train all by himself at 18 AT ALL!
We don’t need the army, it will be over soon.

My parents were like this too, I’ve never told them how upset it made me. I used to feel so jealous when my flatmates parents would visit and when they helped them set up their rooms and make sure they were set up properly from the start.

We shouldn’t have to live like this and make compromises. We get one life, we should be able to enjoy it. My partner has a 4am alarm set for tomorrow because he needs to let work know by 6am if he can get there tomorrow and nowhere local had petrol this evening.

A man was verbally abused at a petrol station the other day for filling up 20 Jerry cans. What they didn’t realise, is that he was from the RNLI and was filling them up for the boats…. Apparently they use a LOT of fuel and they don’t get given their own supply….. Given that all RNLI staff are volunteers I feel awful for all of them across the country at the moment. Can you imagine the abuse they’re getting?

Two days of madness, because of listening to the media. My brother delivers fuel so I knew not to panick.