To say people are totally over reacting about the fuel issue

[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.

[TikTokNutcases]

You want the Police and ambulance service to run

Absolutely I do, and they wouldn't be in the position they're in of having to worry about running their vehicles if it weren't for everybody panicking and stockpiling fuel they don't need.

There was no need for the bulk buying at all and if people just got what they needed then others wouldn't be in the predicament of having to wonder how to get from TR19 7AL to TR1 3AY for a 6am start.

Instead people have panicked and flocked to the petrol stations, gerry cans in hand, and bought surplus.

[TikTokNutcases]

You are boring

No, you are boring along with the rest of the dramatic people acting as though life as we know it has ended for fuck sake.

[LagunaBubbles]

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

Don't have a train station. Nearest one would cost me £10 a day in a taxi each way.

Ride a bicycle
Not allowed on the Motorway

Use the bus
You mean the 3 buses I would need to use taking 3 hours in each direction?

Whereas in my car I can be st work in 30 minutes. Some people just don't have enough the amity to understand that not everyone is like them. And as for your question about "where are all these super rural places", I'm in Ayrshire in the West of Scotland.

[Silverswirl]

Please never learn to drive OP and stay well away from the roads.
Many people only have 2 busses running per day anywhere near their houses for retired folk to do their shopping.
Lots of people have problems with health like a bad back or hip or knee making it impossible to walk far especially carrying what they need.
Many people have multiple young kids who go to school or nursery far away
People have built their lives / jobs / schools around driving and not some crummy seriously underfunded bus service that is as reliable as a fart in the wind.
You don’t drive so you have built your life accordingly, taking public transport into consideration.
You can’t just swap to public transport just like that if you are outside a city!

[OuiOuiBonjour]

I think people need to calm down and not buy fuel unless they actually need it.

However, I will be in trouble next week. There is no train from where I live to where I work. I work an hour away.

To get to work I would have to get a bus to a city 20 mins away by car but an hour away by bus, then get on two different trains to the nearest train station to work - 40 mins of train travel in total but with waits in between trains it's 90 minutes (if I miss either of those trains then I would add an extra hour on), then I'd have to wait for a bus at the train station to get me to the centre of town where I would then have to get a private staff/student bus for my workplace to drop me there. That bus is frequently full so I could have to wait for the 2nd or even 3rd bus to get there. So 3 buses, 2 trains - 3 hours minimum, possibly 4.5 hours with delays.

And...crucially...the train timetables would not allow me to get to work on time and (as I don't finish until 8pm some nights) the last nearest train is at 5.30pm.

If I can't buy petrol next week, I will have to pay for accomodation to stay near work. That will mean I won't actually break even and will be working for free.

[Zeal]

What fuel issue?

[friendlycat]

I think we can all see that there has been panic but you state in your original post that you don’t drive and don’t understand the “flapping” at not being able to get to the supermarket or work.

But there are millions who have no choice other than to drive to their place of work.

[Anordinarymum]

@TikTokNutcases

You are boring

No, you are boring along with the rest of the dramatic people acting as though life as we know it has ended for fuck sake.

Lol I am not being dramatic at all. What will be will be, but you have ramped in the drama here by swearing
Jog on. Oh yeah there is no fuel so you'll have to

[tabulahrasa]

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

Well yes, but presumably non drivers don’t take on jobs that have driving as an essential part of role?...

[TikTokNutcases]

I bet you wait at home with glee whist some mug delivers your Amazon parcels in a car. People like you make me incredibly angry. You sound like a smug twat

I don't shop on Amazon

[Mickarooni]

Do non drivers not need to eat food or receive health and social care?!

There are many professions and workers who need cars to provide care, support and help to very vulnerable people. It’s is not a minority. You are totally ignorant.

[friendlycat]

@tabulahrasa

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

Well yes, but presumably non drivers don’t take on jobs that have driving as an essential part of role?...

Precisely

[TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum]

I do a physical job with lots of heavy equipment. Use my personal car for work. Need to drive from Surrey to Milton Keynes tomorrow and not been able to find a petrol station with fuel since Friday. What do you suggest OP??

[Droite]

There was no need for the bulk buying at all and if people just got what they needed then others wouldn't be in the predicament of having to wonder how to get from TR19 7AL to TR1 3AY for a 6am start.

No-one has been bulk buying petrol or diesel, for the simple reason that they have nowhere to store it other than their fuel tanks and maybe a can or two of spare.

Why blame this on drivers when the reality is that it is down to Brexit plus the utter incompetence of a government that closed its eyes to the inevitable consequences of Brexit?

[JoborPlay]

When you don't drive you factor transport in to the decisions you make, where you live, where you work.

I drive, I have a job where a car is essential (home visits, it's contractual) so the decisions I've made about where I work and where I live didn't take in to consideration not being able to use my car, because it didn't need to.

If we all had to factor in being able to get public transport or walk to work if required then we'd be screwed as many many places have crap public transport

[MLMbotsno]

Oh dear OP try living in a rural area, no trains and bus runs once a day 🙄 you obviously have no idea at all.

[8dpwoah]

Congratulations on building a life that works around your non-driving status.

I was a later driver and I had a life that worked round that too, then I got a car and my life developed to work around having my own transport (main thing being our distant train line and dreadful bus service is only a minor, occasional inconvenience).

Doing the reverse in changing your life to suit no car again, at very short notice with an unknown timeframe isn't really the same thing at all.

[Billandbob]

All depends where you live and what you do…I work in a children’s home set in a rural location with no access by public transport (one of the reasons it’s located there) so I need to get there by car…

[olidora63]

I live is a very thriving town but as weird as it sounds I work in a care home 25 miles away!! No buses trains etc and despite going to different parts of our area ….no petrol,so guess what …I cannot work tomorrow..sorry you have really pissed me off !

[Becca19962014]

I live somewhere very rural.

You can forget biking anywhere unless you are seriously fit and healthy (mountains)

Public transport is extremely rare. Think school buses only.

Most of our garages have closed anyway and there's miles between them and I don't just mean one or two I'm talking a thirty minute drive minimum.

Plus, and I've not seen anyone else mention this, but this last weekend just gone a lot of parents were taking their kids off to uni (no public transport possible) so needed to fill their cars on Friday which, every year causes queues where I am anyway.

There's talk of closing schools. Services that were virtually non existent now are completely. It's extremely dangerous. I've heard one ambulance today - I live two minutes from the only ambulance station left in my county.

This thread reminds me of when my local hospital got downgraded, losing many services and "A&E" became nurse led (which means by their nature there are things they simply cannot do - and one consultant cannot work 24/7 365 days a year) and some cow in Westminster stood up and compared it to having to travel an extra ten minutes to her next nearest hospital .... Our MP reply was a very cool - our next nearest is over two hours away. Conversation closed.

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

OP, do you think public transport has so much spare capacity that it can absorb every car driver abandoning the car & using public transport instead?

Because I don't.

[bizboz]

I'm a teacher. I live 7 miles from the school I teach in. I live in a village. The school I work at is in a large town and is at the closest edge of that town to where I live. It takes me 10-15 minutes to drive to school but there is no direct bus route. I would have to get a bus to the bus staion in in the centre of that town, then another bus back out to where my school is, which would take over an hour. It's a feasible distance to cycle, but unfortunately includes cycling down a 60mph main road, then a narrow country road that many drivers use as a cut through. I'm not a very confident cyclist and wouldn't feel safe cycling. If we had better public transport links and/or cycle facilities then I would have no objection to not always taking the car.

[olidora63]

@Droite

There was no need for the bulk buying at all and if people just got what they needed then others wouldn't be in the predicament of having to wonder how to get from TR19 7AL to TR1 3AY for a 6am start.

No-one has been bulk buying petrol or diesel, for the simple reason that they have nowhere to store it other than their fuel tanks and maybe a can or two of spare.

Why blame this on drivers when the reality is that it is down to Brexit plus the utter incompetence of a government that closed its eyes to the inevitable consequences of Brexit?

This ….the OP is as thick as mince !!