Page 15 | To say people are totally over reacting about the fuel issue

Lex345 · 29/09/2021 06:09

OP you do realise that the only reason why you, a non driver, can live your life as a non driver so comfortably is because of infrastructure and people who do drive maintaining part of that? Unless of course you live on a homestead completely off grid, which I think is unlikely since you are on mumsnet.

Utility companies, energy companies, supermarkets, public transport operatives, telecoms, clothing retailers-all require drivers as part of their essential operations and all of them employ staff who need to get to work, often at unsocial hours when public transport is sparse/non existent/risky to personal safety.
When I was a student nurse, we couldn't afford a car so I did use public transport and because of the way placement works, some placements were 3 or 4 buses each way and over 2 hours journey. Just what you want after a 13 hour shift. This will be the same for many people.

The fact is there should not be these problems in the UK. Driver shortages have not happened overnight, it should have been addressed sooner. Many people have no confidence whatsoever in supply chains in this country and that is why so many people panic when there is even a hint of shortage of something.

There will be some people who have genuinely panic bought, but many people genuinely need fuel for day to day life. They cannot just "sit this one out"

Sockwomble · 29/09/2021 06:10

"If you didn’t have a car you’d adapt"

Ds goes to school 35 miles away. His respite provision is 50 miles away.

"If you are a carer you’d do it for someone or something local."

You think everyone who requires care has the same needs and it could be done by anyone. They don't and it cannot.

QuestionableDanceMoves · 29/09/2021 06:53

Here’s my circumstances- single parent, work full time in a school. Breakfast club for youngest doesn’t open until 7:45, I need to be at work for 8- my work is a 45 minute walk away minimum and the bus times don’t work (they’re only every 30 minutes)
Not to mention their clubs, hospital appointments, our food shop etc
I am just above the red now, do not have the fuel or the time to drive around trying to find petrol and am starting to worry.
I’d love to be able to not be reliant on my car but there’s simply no way- unless you’ve invented teleporting OP?

tabulahrasa · 29/09/2021 07:05

“If you didn’t have a car you’d adapt”

I mean technically yes... but it’d involve both me and my DP leaving the jobs we’re qualified to do and cutting our income by about 2/3...

My BIL is an HGV driver, there’s no way of getting to the depot without a car, they don’t put them in public transport friendly places and it isn’t running at 4am anyway.

Plumbers, roofers, loads of couriers... they’re all using their own vehicles.

When people say they need their car to work, they don’t necessarily just mean they have a job a bit far away and could get a similar one closer if they had to.

LakieLady · 29/09/2021 07:08

My neighbour had a hospital appointment the other day. She was going to get the bus, which stops on the main road just 0.25 of a mile away, and right outside the hospital, which is approx 10 miles away.

To get there for a 10.30 appointment she'd have had to get the bus at 7.30. The next bus isn't until 10.30, and it takes 30 mins..

If her appointment had taken longer than an hour, she wouldn't have been able to get a bus back until gone 1.30, getting home at around 2.15, by the time she'd got indoors.

It's a 15 minute drive, so she queued for an hour to fill her car up and rover there. This is a route between two sizeable towns, both with populations of over 20,000, and only 50 miles from London. We're not in the middle of Dartmoor or anything.

Lincs County Council must spend a lot more supporting public transport than my county council does if those sort of journeys are practical by public transport.

Sirzy · 29/09/2021 07:15

@Lightisnotwhite

I think the Op has a point actually.

If you didn’t have a car you’d adapt. You wouldn’t have 3 kids at 3 educational establishments you had to drive to. Any secondary kids would be making their own way. Nursery kids wouldn’t be.
If you are a carer you’d do it for someone or something local.

Maybe the world would be smaller in some ways but plenty manage without a car.
How many of us with cars would admit to just driving because we can. Because it’s great to do whatever you want when you want.

So you wouldn’t send you children to the best school for their needs.

Children wouldn’t be able to have the chance to go to nursery? Or parents wouldn’t be able to work because they couldn’t.

My mum was a carer for a relative who lived 20 minutes drive away. So your solution to that was what? Let the NHS fund carers going in instead? Mobe the whole family? Move her to a different area than all her health care?

icedcoffees · 29/09/2021 07:35

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

For goodness sake, people can cycle, I live in Holland and cycle everywhere. While I get that some people do need a car, there are far too many in the UK. I agree with the op

Yes, everyone who lives in hilly, mountainous areas like the Lake District should just cycle to work - that would be really practical

I'm a dog walker, so maybe I could use a pack of dogs to pull me along the main road everyday?

sausagepastapot · 29/09/2021 07:43

Ridiculous post, you have no idea as to why people do need a car- what a closed view of the world you have.

LakieLady · 29/09/2021 08:09

@BiscuitBean

You know what OP, you’re absolutely right! How silly we’ve been! I’ll just tell my self-employed builder DP to stop being so silly and just hop on the bus to this weeks job 60 miles away with all his tools

In reality, he’s had to take only the bare minimum of tools with him in my car (a Mini!) in the hope that he’ll manage with what he’s got. There’s not a single station round here with any diesel. He took the van yesterday in the hope that he’d be able to get some…he couldn’t. The fuel stations had deliveries, but by the time he’d finished on site and on his way home, it was gone. We’re lucky I WFH and don’t need the car.

My DSS has a tank full of diesel in his truck, but has had to cancel jobs because he can't get petrol for his chainsaw, mower, hedgecutter etc!

The silly sod didn't think to buy petrol when he filled the truck up.

ivykaty44 · 29/09/2021 08:24

Plumbers, roofers, loads of couriers... they’re all using their own vehicles.

They may own the vehicles but the are company vehicles

And if we could reduce the use of private vehicles then all these trying to move large equipment around would have fuel, get there quicker, especially emergency vehicles and people living with disabilities that restrict their mobility - they’d have more parking

If the people that are able reduced or stopped then the people that aren’t able would have an easier time

tabulahrasa · 29/09/2021 08:47

“They may own the vehicles but the are company vehicles”

Nope... it’s pretty common for those to be their only vehicle.

Makes no sense to own a car and a van if you’re a sole trader and the way a lot of courier companies are set up is that you use your own car.

Could they use them less outside of work? Probably, most people could drive a bit less at least than they do... but there’s not the clear difference of commercial vs private vehicles for a lot of people.

LakieLady · 29/09/2021 08:47

Its also important to recognise that perhaps car ownership ISN'T something everyone can benefit from. Just as people centre their lives around owning a car, others are forced to centre their lives around not having this luxury

That's a very valid point.

However, outside of urban areas, public transport can be bloody expensive, so the additional cost of running a car becomes less significant. I used to work one day a week in a town 18 miles away and, tempted by the sign on the A-road that told me it was 12 minutes by train, thought I'd give it a try.

The train fare was £10, £2.50 return for the bus to/from the station and the train back was a few minutes late so I missed the last bus at 5.35 and had to get a taxi home, which was £6! Petrol cost would have been under a fiver, so a big difference.

Xenia · 29/09/2021 09:13

Today there are no queues as there is no fuel. I should have stayed in a very very very long queue when I got up very early on Sat or Sunday and just waited as long as it took. Every time I go out to look for fuel the dial goes down and down. I wish there were a real time feed the companies could put out telling you what your local garage has in stock as due to work I do not have 30 or 40 minutes to cycle to one to find ut and won't want to waste petrol driving to one.

BootsofSwelly · 29/09/2021 09:25

I feel pretty conflicted - a terrible inconvenience for many, but also delicious comeuppance for the Brexiteers and anti-cyclist brigade!

IfIHadAHeart · 29/09/2021 09:53

I’m a police officer, for a neighbouring county to the one I live in. I live rurally, and 25 miles from my place of work. There are no buses/trains from my village that would get me there for a 0700hrs start. There are also no buses/trains that would get me home after a 2300 or 0100hrs finish. Many of my colleagues are in the same position. OP, if you have a solution I would love to hear it, as currently I have enough fuel for a one-way journey to work tomorrow. I’m not sure my kids would appreciate it if I just kipped in one of the cells instead of coming home…

That’s not even touching upon the fact that we are struggling to fill up the police vehicles….

icedcoffees · 29/09/2021 10:42

They may own the vehicles but the are company vehicles

The vast majority of tradesmen are self employed - so no, they're not company vehicles.

myBumJuiceSmellsLikeRoses · 29/09/2021 11:37

@TikTokNutcases

People adamant they can't go to work, so get a train.

Ride a bicycle.

Use the bus.

Talk of closing schools for god sake, whatever next.

It's ridiculous that people rely so heavily on the use of their car that life appears to stop still when they can't drive it.

You don't see this type of hysteria among non drivers, ever.

I don't drive and never have. I've never flapped like this about not being able to go to the supermarket, work etc.

I live in a village where there is a 2 hourly train service and 3 buses a week, I work about 10 miles away in an equally rural setting.

I could take a train, then I'd have to use the hourly bus service to get close to work.
I'd be looking at leaving home between 5 - 6 am to start work at 9, and getting home at 9pm after finishing at 5.
A 16 hour day - that's more than an "inconvenience". That's doubled my work day.

So you may have lived rurally in the past - but public transport isn't what it was. We don't have the regularity of service we used to.

I'm not sure how long it would take to walk, and I'm not sure I could cycle the hills. I'm fit enough, but I don't cycle regularly.

I'm not flapping, but get off your trumpet. We don't all live the same lives as you.

Xenia · 29/09/2021 12:00

The very few people on the thread who think we can just take public transport have no idea about people's lives, how fat they have to go for work, how bad public transport is in so many bits of the UK (usually because they are rich and live in cities near work)

bewilderedhedgehog · 29/09/2021 12:17

@Xenia

The very few people on the thread who think we can just take public transport have no idea about people's lives, how fat they have to go for work, how bad public transport is in so many bits of the UK (usually because they are rich and live in cities near work)

Totally agree with this. The infrastructure of this country is generally poor, so people have adapted to cope, and for many people that means car transport matters - for work, education etc. Public transport in many areas is infrequent, unreliable and expensive. If people were not working, yes they could cope for a few days, but I suspect that most of the people who are anxious about fuel are those who have to work, support relatives, get children to school etc. And in rural Lincolnshire (which I know well, although don't live there) many buses no longer run. OP you need to think a little more carefully about this!

GreatPotato · 29/09/2021 12:20

*private carers can't use public transport !!

Why not?*

I'm sorry OP, but any credibility your discussion may have had was lost 2 posts in. You really can't think why not?

summercupcake · 29/09/2021 12:28

I live rural, and I work shifts, public transport isn't an option for me unfortunately.

I am however not overreacting, and have enough fuel to get to work for the week. Just wish everyone would calm the fuck down about it all now

Horst · 29/09/2021 12:53

Our local petrol station who’s keeping us updated on exactly when they are getting deliveries and have in fact managed to get more deliveries than normal in a locals only closed Facebook page is informing us that they have people coming from 1-2hours away to fill up. Crazy.

Parker231 · 29/09/2021 13:23

Our local Facebook group is busy updating where there is and isn’t petrol and diesel. We also have a WhatsApp group for our road and we check in to see if anyone needs lifts for shopping etc.

ivykaty44 · 29/09/2021 13:32

They may own the vehicles but the are company vehicles

The vast majority of tradesmen are self employed - so no, they're not company vehicles

if your self employed - then its your work/company vehicle as you use it for work to transport all your equipment, you then claim that vehicle against tax

I think you really know that

ivykaty44 · 29/09/2021 13:35

tabulahrasa

so you think they should go without fuel as they use them for private use?

if private car owners that can get about by other means left the fuel for people with the vans to get to do there work then there'd be enough to go around

those that can gt about by other means should and leave the fuel for the small business van drivers, that can't and the other people with disabilities that can't etc