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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To say people are totally over reacting about the fuel issue

439 replies

TikTokNutcases · 27/09/2021 22:54

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.

OP posts:
Goatinthegarden · 28/09/2021 06:31

What a daft post. I cycle 8km to work almost every day. I have a car, but I try not to use it because I prefer to get the exercise. I also use public transport quite often. I am very self sufficient without my car.

Yes, many do people use their cars when they don’t need to. However, I’m perfectly able to see why some people might have no option but to use a car to get around.

It’s also not out with the realms of imagination that many of the services that we rely on requires vehicles at some stage of the operation. I.e.the food that you buy in the supermarket doesn’t magically appear on the shelves.

AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii · 28/09/2021 06:32

I live rurally and work in community nursing covering that wide rural area I can do 40-50 miles most days just at work, no bus route for the visits I have to do, no bus route to school etc. I had to learn to drive and rely on my car because I live rurally and I won’t be giving it up anytime soon. I am not panicking though just filled up as normal,

UnsuitableHat · 28/09/2021 06:37

@ivykaty44 Expect most people would agree that to lose a driving licence through illness and possibly not get it back would be pretty shit.

saleorbouy · 28/09/2021 06:40

Why would good public transport exist now? Many don't use it normally and drive, usually because the service frequency is so poor or its incredibly expensive.
It's a shame our attitude to getting around is not more like the Dutch but their whole society is geared towards cycling and public transport and it free or very cheap.
Why would anyone regularly use trains for short journeys when is actually more expensive than running a car. The only advantage is that you don't have to park.

londonrach · 28/09/2021 06:41

Op...you designed your life and job around not having a car. Not everyone lives near public transport. I'm a home visiting medical profession and no petrol means I can't visit my patients. Can you image a printer using the bus with his or her tins of paint and ladders or a plumber with a sink and a toilet and equipment. Your post is silly and smug if you can't see why people need to use cars and vans to get to work!

speakout · 28/09/2021 06:42

Very Naiive OP.

yellowdigsaur · 28/09/2021 06:42

@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.

@TikTokNutcases so you thought you'd start another thread goading and winding everyone up about this boring non issue? - seems sensible 🙄
Sirzy · 28/09/2021 06:48

Ds gets treated at a number of hospitals. I have just done a quick look and the two that a half an hour drive away wokld take over 2.5 hours each way on public transport. He is due at both of these in the next two weeks.

I live in a town with no train station and shockingly bad bus service.

Because of his disabilities ds can’t walk to school so I have to drive him.

Luckily I filled up before all of this happened and in not concerned at the moment because I think now all the twits have filled their cars then for the next few weeks rne petrol stations will hopefully be much quieter. But if it did get to a proper shortage then yes I would be stuffed

SpacemanDad · 28/09/2021 06:54

Tell me you live in a city and have no idea how life is in rural communities without saying you live in a city and have no idea how life is in a rural community

Clarkey86 · 28/09/2021 06:55

I DO live in a city but by the time I’ve used multiple buses to drop my daughter off at childcare and made it into work, the children I teach would have been on their own for around 2 hours. Grin

Kk789 · 28/09/2021 06:57

@TikTokNutcases

Doing that twice a day will add perhaps 2-3 hours to my day. Now think about the people who live in the surrounding villages.

An inconvenience absolutely but it's not dire is it? I commuted 2 hours on busses daily, with a walk in between, until 37 weeks pregnant.

It will all be over by the weekend there is just no need for the flapping.

Well, good for you. Well done. You are so brave and inspiring. Hmm

What a stupid, self centred thread.

DeepaBeesKit · 28/09/2021 06:59

Public transport availability requires drivers, engineers, station staff etc to all be able to get to work and get their children to school.

Whether you like it or not OP, rising property prices have pushed many to live further and further away from workplaces and amenities. There are many many people in the UK who have no access to food or medicine without using a car.

canary1 · 28/09/2021 07:05

Idiotic post from someone who has a highly blinkered view. I won’t have the ability to do my job after tomorrow. Yes it’s essential, lives depend on in. Yes I need my car to do it. No public transport won’t solve the problem at all.

Couchbettato · 28/09/2021 07:07

Do buses not use fuel? 🤨

Yesterday as I walked from my mum's home, past 6 bus stops, each stop was packed with people waiting for a bus. Usually there's one or two across the whole walk.

The last man I walked past was on the phone telling someone how 2 buses hadn't turned up.

That could either be fuel, or it could be that more people need to use the buses and they're at capacity and can't take more on by the time they're out our way.

YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp · 28/09/2021 07:08

@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.

Christ on a bike 😡 How the f... am I, 68 with severe heart failure, 9 miles from a train station, no bus service other than a weekly one to a town in the opposite direction, and definitely not able to ride a bike supposed to do as you sneeringly suggest? Get real ffs! Many of us have no choice other than to drive.
4BlueTowers · 28/09/2021 07:09

One of the things I love about MN is that all the experiences of people on it give me an insight into the realities of other peoples lives, and how very different they can be from mine.

Hopefully the OP might be a litte more self reflective now and realise that her little bubble is not the same as everyone elses bubble....

Getawaywithit · 28/09/2021 07:09

Google says my walk to work will take 2hrs and 56 minutes. So 6 hours a day. Public transport around me is running at a reduced service due to driver shortages, it would take 2 hours and 2 bus changes to get to work. So 4 hours a day. That’s not factoring in when childcare opens and the fact I can’t do anything at all till it opens. So when/if I run out of fuel it’s going to get difficult.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 28/09/2021 07:11

stop calling people idiots for putting petrol in their cars

i was so lucky i was at home yesterday lunch time when facebook notified me that there was petrol near to me
i do 16 miles a day in a car with a small engine,
£30 generally lasts me a week.
are you saying I am an idiot for using my car?

Mummyoflittledragon · 28/09/2021 07:11

And not everyone is the same as you op.

I have ME / fibro / chronic pain and had a few major surgeries over the past few years. I can’t take a bus. I’m disabled and don’t use a wheelchair. My disability is hidden. When not sat down with head support, I can get fatigued and reach a point, where I lose the ability to speak and collapse.

Obviously I only drive when well enough and a car has head support, which is essential for recovery. Having a car means I can actually leave the house. I can also drive to shops, go and do things, return to the car and recover when I feel fatigued.

I do not own nor want a mobility scooter as not walking the short distances I am able to do would make the aforementioned illnesses worse. Besides, neither wheelchairs nor mobility scooters give the support and safety I need and I certainly do not want to make a spectacle of myself in public. I’ve collapsed a few times when out and it’s overwhelmingly frightening, not to mention embarrassing, shop staff want to call ambulances and in store first aiders etc.

I have regular bodywork treatments from highly specialised people, I’ve found over the years. And pay for them myself. Without these, I’d be in a wheelchair and housebound. I need my car to get to these people regularly. I also need to do errands such as go to the post office or get cash out, buy the odd thing from the local shop and take my dogs to the local park to run around.

Please tell me how I could use public transport to get to these people and places. The post office is 3/4 mile away. The local shop and park are both 1/4 mile away. I can’t walk there.

Many people have hidden disabilities and older people have mobility issues. I’m an anomaly when it comes to the clusterfuck of illnesses and surgeries. But not when it comes to issues of mobility.

I have fuel and I am fine. Many others do not and need it for a variety of reasons other than plain old going to work. You sound horrible, nasty and ignorant op, like a jealous teen. Early 20s at best. Shame on you.

escapeyou · 28/09/2021 07:11

@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.

The nearest train to me is 9 miles away

Work is 10 miles away

School 9 miles away

All via a A road and part via a motorway.

We do not have a bus service.

You cannot cycle on a motorway.

Any other tips you’d like to give?

MrsLargeEmbodied · 28/09/2021 07:12

sorry, 32 miles a day I drive,
16 there and 16 back!

CrazyCatStory · 28/09/2021 07:13

“I lived in rural Lincolnshire for several years, there were train stations dotted about” Hmm
Really?? I have family living on the coast there. The nearest train station is over 16 miles away. There’s a bus through twice a week. How the fuck do you think either of those are the answer to getting to work daily?

An ex colleague of mine was yesterday having to decide which home visits could be delayed/missed for her district nurse team, as some had been unable to get any petrol. All need cars, they carry a ton of medical crap around with them for dressings etc, so need their own transport. That’s not flapping, that’s the bitter truth, that people aren’t getting the help they need.

Nice that you were physically able to make a 2 hour commute on multiple buses and with lots of walking, not everyone is that able bodied.

Not driving means you based all your life decisions on that fact (where you lived/worked/shopped), drivers have based theirs on the fact they can drive to those things.

Sirzy · 28/09/2021 07:13

Ds has a community nurse who covers a 25 mile radius. She has a car full of various equipment and training materials. How would that work? She is supposed to coming to provide some training to ds school today so I am really hoping she has been able to get fuel otherwise I still have to go to school daily to provide the care.

HouseOfFire · 28/09/2021 07:14

@TikTokNutcases

Was it car drivers bulk buying toilet roll and pasta?

Most probably, given the over reaction I'm seeing from the people for whom this is only a mild inconvenience at best.

I don't doubt that for some people it could be extremely problematic should it continue for too long, this example being one of them:

The only person I know who is really fretting has a husband who is extremely unwell in hospital, while she can get public transport it's an hour each way, not awful as a general rule but awful when you are absolutely desperate to get their quick and are a teary emotional wreck.

But in general, most people can manage without the use of their car for a couple of days.

Most probably, given the over reaction I'm seeing from the people for whom this is only a mild inconvenience at best.

So people here have literally told you why they need fuel, and you still think its a mild inconvenience?

What do you do for work?

MyOtherProfile · 28/09/2021 07:15

Bless you OP. Have you always had this inability to understand anyone else's perspective?

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