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.

*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?...*

Loool this. This alone. It's easy to pick back relax and watch the chaos unfold when you dont have a job that solely depends on driving. So you do you op. But just because you dont understand it doesnt mean people are being irrational.

You say you get that ambulances, delivery drivers ect need fuel for majority of the big services to keep running yet your original post was to go on about how the world would seemingly end and tried to make a point that that is ridiculous. But it's the truth and even you have acknowledged that. So to answer your post yes without driving lots of things wouldnt be available and people would rightfully so be stressed. Give over with your biggot attitude towards it all because you are a "non driver"

I agree with you OP and the nasty bullying you are getting is just people being defensive about their lifestyle choices.

Yes, NHS staff are going to need their car. Your average person being this reliant on private car use not so much.

I've lived very rurally as a child, I'd cycle 15 mins and get a train to school or to go meet friends. I don't buy that this isn't possible for adults.

A lot of people don't have cars because, like house ownership, it just isn't financially possible. Even driving lessons are unaffordable. It is possible to be a non driver and function perfectly fine. It's not being smug, it's being practical.

To say you can't do a combination of walking/public transport isn't true, it requires more planning, but it's not impossible.

80% of people live in or around cities with good public transport.

I'm astounded that people have set up their lives so badly that they fall apart without a car.
Yes of course the disabled, and scaffolders can't get the bus.
The rest of us, unless we live in the arse end of the arse end of beyond have options.
Unless of course you live in the middle of the countryside with 3 children all going in opposite directions to school and parents who commute to the city, in which case I despise your choices. Do you think the climate crisis doesn't apply to you! Why don't you set up your life better!

@Stellaris22

I agree with you OP and the nasty bullying you are getting is just people being defensive about their lifestyle choices.

Yes, NHS staff are going to need their car. Your average person being this reliant on private car use not so much.

I've lived very rurally as a child, I'd cycle 15 mins and get a train to school or to go meet friends. I don't buy that this isn't possible for adults.

A lot of people don't have cars because, like house ownership, it just isn't financially possible. Even driving lessons are unaffordable. It is possible to be a non driver and function perfectly fine. It's not being smug, it's being practical.

To say you can't do a combination of walking/public transport isn't true, it requires more planning, but it's not impossible.

Brilliant being able bodied isn't it

So @ivykaty44 if all suddenly started using bikes, trailers, electric cars and public transport, have you thought about how the current infrastructure will cope?

And where will they obtain said bikes, trailers and cars… let alone the various vehicles used for public transport? We are in the middle of a pandemic and your suggestion would cause all manner of logistical issues from acquirement of raw materials to production and transport when the world is already not coping with current demand.

My son lives in the countryside (city house prices were too high) and he had to scrap his car earlier this month. He has not bought another yet as they are very expensive. He is cycling at the moment and he drives a work van delivering food for a living (full time PAYE employee) - he is a fit young man but he finishes his shift after mid night and is now cycling on unlit roads for miles every night up to 1am. I don't think that is very safe and I hope he replaces the car.

Not everyone is rich enough to live in cities or near a bus!

Yesterday rainy morning there was much more school run traffic than usual. We all know people who might usually walk places but will Not walk in the rain

but just because you don't walk in the rain doesn't mean you drive every day - a happy medium, and if people walk 4 days and drive one - thats much better for fuel consumption

Yes it is @LST

Whilst there are some people who have been badly affected I think the majority are quite enjoying the panic, it was just like in the food panic buying of 2020, I was in an aisle with yes shelves that were not stacked.high, bit there was meat on the shelves, plenty of choice and a.lady said to her friend, "omg there is NO meat! Everyone is so SELFISH" and in the sandwich meat section which had plenty another man shouted at his wife that it is "ridiculous, everyone is so SELFISH there is no corned beef and stormed off" I pointed.the corned beef out to her. There was genuinely plenty of food, yes there had been a run on some items in the canned aisle but most shelves had plenty available, but people were going round sounding like an outraged daily mail piece. I think they enjoyed being part of this crisis, and I def get the feel of that.at the moment. And in doing so they are impacting genuine cases and causing some actual harm.

I used to work in Frome with colleagues 12 miles away in Shepton Mallet. Both small north Somerset towns so hardly the arse end of nowhere. The nearest train station to SM is 7 miles away and the last bus out used to be 5.20 when we finished at 5.30. There are whole counties where, if you don't drive, you have the choice of working in 2 cities and have to live along the one train line.

A 20 minute drive to work would require a 2 hour journey on several (unreliable) buses, or 2.5 hours on trains (going into, across and out of the nearest big city) costing approx £40 one way. YABU and a bit naive to think it is so easy everywhere

@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.

Actually most people can't survive without their cars for a few days where I live.

Nearest station? 9 miles
Buses to station? NO
nearest bus stop? 2 miles
To get my 3 kids to their schools by public transport would take nearly 1.5 hours (bus into town, change bus, bus to school 1, bus to school 2)
Then a bus to my work place- another 30 minutes. So I'd leave home at 7, take 2 hours travelling and get to work late. Then leave home early to do it in reverse.
OP does you job just allow you to reduce your hours like that?

My parents (in their 70s) live 7 miles from the nearest shop. There is NO bus. The nearest station is 15 miles. Do you suggest they walk?

So @ivykaty44 if all suddenly started using bikes, trailers, electric cars and public transport, have you thought about how the current infrastructure will cope?

people already use all these modes of transport? The roads are paid for by everyone paying council tax and paye, and motorways are paid fr by central government

@OakPine

I'm astounded that people have set up their lives so badly that they fall apart without a car. Yes of course the disabled, and scaffolders can't get the bus. The rest of us, unless we live in the arse end of the arse end of beyond have options. Unless of course you live in the middle of the countryside with 3 children all going in opposite directions to school and parents who commute to the city, in which case I despise your choices. Do you think the climate crisis doesn't apply to you! Why don't you set up your life better!

We moved very close to dh’s former employment. Trouble is they managed him out. So he got a job commensurate to his skills and experience. Trouble is, it’s 40ish miles away. Do you think he should have just stayed unemployed or we should have moved?

Moving away from the support structure I have set up in terms of physical treatment is not an option as I have a physical disability. Had he decided to be unemployed, we would have to move to a small house. Can you explain why we should have to do that because I’m ill?

@OakPine

I'm astounded that people have set up their lives so badly that they fall apart without a car. Yes of course the disabled, and scaffolders can't get the bus. The rest of us, unless we live in the arse end of the arse end of beyond have options. Unless of course you live in the middle of the countryside with 3 children all going in opposite directions to school and parents who commute to the city, in which case I despise your choices. Do you think the climate crisis doesn't apply to you! Why don't you set up your life better!

@OakPine do you like having food to eat that's grown locally? As in - British food?

Because you've just said you despise people who live rurally. Like FARMERS

Mummyoflittledragon

as an aside did you know there are already more pedal cycles in this country than cars and more bikes are sold each year than cars = plus the bikes take less raw materials

@ivykaty44

So @ivykaty44 if all suddenly started using bikes, trailers, electric cars and public transport, have you thought about how the current infrastructure will cope?

people already use all these modes of transport? The roads are paid for by everyone paying council tax and paye, and motorways are paid fr by central government

Now tell me exactly how that would work. I think you forgot to look at the second paragraph.

I’d love it if we had a transport network here that meant I could get to work. But the first bus available from the village gets to the town ten minutes too late for the train service I need to get to my early shift on time. And that’s without factoring in the shambolic stagecoach service that has had so many unannounced cancellations lately that kids have been strong at bus stops waiting for two hours to get to and from school.

People are panicking but it will be fine. I usually drive into work - which takes around 80 minutes on a good day. A train would be 3 changes due to the route, a bus and a ten minute walk. It would take around 3 hours. That’s six hours a day commuting… and yes I live in the arse end of nowhere! It’s not as easy as saying “use public transport” to everyone.

@ivykaty44

Mummyoflittledragon

as an aside did you know there are already more pedal cycles in this country than cars and more bikes are sold each year than cars = plus the bikes take less raw materials

What about other forms of transport? How many years does it take to build a train and railway network?

We hoped to live where the older 3 children went to school but they all ended up at different schools! yes they went on the school buses but to get there we had to leave home at 7.15am with baby twins all ready and in the car to get them to the school bus stops. I don't think people realise that not everyone is rich enough to live in cities. This is the issue with ER and those people on the M25 - they are rich privileged types who have no understanding of the lives of most normal people.

We’re quite rural. Bus stop is 20 minutes walk away down a dark deserted road, service is poor and none in the Evenings or weekends. So, driving is essential, for school for the kids and to the train station for his commute for my DH. I am wfh since last March, so I don’t need to do so much driving.

@TikTokNutcases
“I lived in rural Lincolnshire for 23 years, there were train stations dotted about.

Where do all of these super rural people live? The arse end of where?“

I live in rural Lincolnshire now. It is the arse end of where.

Nearest small train station 12 miles away, nearest train station to actually get anywhere, 30 miles away.

Nearest small shops 3 miles, bus every 2 hours (If you’re lucky!) service stops at 4.30pm. No chance of working around here if you need to use public transport.