Tanker drivers' strike

[EdithWeston]

They have voted for strike action.

No word yet on when, or for how long.

But the rumour mill suggests they may want to hit the Easter get-away, so it might be worth thinking ahead about what journeys you want to make so you can plan fuel needs (and perhaps minimise need for last-minute panic-buying, which presumably might make things worse).

TBH there really isn't any need now for the tank drivers to strike!

Nope - the government have caused chaos all by themselves. I wonder which industry will try this next?

Hang on one moment Easter is when people use more petrol, ditto christmas even without this issue people would be filling up. So whatever percentage increase is not necessarily a surprise.

I think the petrol stations should reduce the price of fuel tomorrow as a thank you to all those who are not panic buying today!
I heard a woman on the radio today saying how she didn't need any petrol but saw the queue and so queued for 30 mins to top up - get a life selfish lady!

DH is in the Army, just like at the London riots its very doubtful that the military would become involved, although the situation may be resolved sooner the operation would cost too much.

susie this time the beeb is not wrong. Local firms delivering home oil from their own depots do earn less; but over 80% of road fuel is delivered by just 7 highly unionised firms, whose tanker drivers do earn around £45k (and whose other drivers earn around £25K). What's more, although those companies have long lists of drivers wanting to upgrade to fuel, Unite has restrictive agreements in place to limit tanker driver numbers. Most drivers are not unionised these days - tanker drivers are the exception. Even so, less than half of them actually voted to strike.

As for the panic-buying: sorry to say it, but I think the gov has been clever: let's get the media-hyped panic out of the way whilst there is plenty of fuel, so by the time a real shortage hits, it will be old news and the public will be pretty blase (how do you do a sodding acute accent on this thing? I'm trying to sound erudite here!)

CourgetteSmuggler: your DH might be unaffected, but there are 400 Army (yes, just Army) personnel on the necessary training to upgrade their existing level to civvie tanker driving.

I was at a meeting today for emergency planning... I work for a local authority... we were told that there were approx 80 tankers for the Army to use nationally.....

Also informed that the Gov are not planning on invoking the national plan; by way of those who are part of life critical services get fuel; therefore no way to get nurses, police, doctors, midwives, district nurses, fuel. LA's are having to resort to plan b which in many cases are 'stores' of fuel, most of which is diesel.

personally I think the government have been very irresponsible and it is their attempt to discredit the strikes before its even begun; or even been confirmed... absolute bonkers behaviour... and we put these jokers in charge...

Why do we not demand that our government, our (almost) elected government get the house in order and stop this stupid knife edge of fuel/energy will we/won't scenario that this country has lived with for far too long?

I am sick of the silly games we play. We need fuel security, we need food security, we need water security. Prioritise it and stop playing 'nasty demons' with specific employee groups like tanker drivers. I recall when it was electricians. I recall when it was miners.

Stop playing pawn-y politics and bloody well sort yourselves out. Take THOSE risks. Stop- okay- decrease our insane dependency on the madnesses of the Middle East. Stop people (ok, bankers) being able to make money on betting on the failure of oil deals. Subsidise alternative energy, be brave enough to stop depending on yer buddies in Big Oil to bail you out. I give 'em 50 year, max, and all of you are likely to have grandchildren, too.

And, fwiw, I doubt tanker drivers are making £45,000 a year on a couple of cunning deals, sealed with Hugo in Futures... they do it on long shifts and high risk. The fact anyone here is citing this as a reason to 'crush them' is proof of how much we need to grow up and realise not only the privately school educated should be allowed to earn a decent wage.

Mammamoomin I didn't (put these jokers in charge- of the asylum?!) , but, funny thing is, none of my colleagues seem to be able to recall who they voted for...

Whenever I hear the phrase 'conciliation service, ACAS' on the radio it takes be back to my childhood and the last time the Conservatives were in government.

I walked past our local petrol station twice today and in both instances there were queues snaking out and blocking the road. I can't believe how many people have been so quick to follow the herd. Plus the prices have gone up another 2p! So everyone is getting punished for the greedy few - every man for himself and all that.

As an exercise in controlling the hive mind I think the government wins in this case.

How many millions have been made for the Treasury in extra tax over the past few days? Honestly sheeple get a life! These are the same kind of people who get a massive knicker twist and buy 10 loaves of bread because the shop is shut for one day over Christmas.

I had planned a few days out over Easter break but I'll change to those I can get to using the train. I do need to drive my mum to visit her new nursing home at the weekend and another trip to see the dreaded social worker next week but if I have no fuel then I won't be able to go. Simple as.

Oh and although I am certainly no fan of the Unions, in fact I think they cause more trouble than they're worth now, if I was driving a highly explosive substance every day I'd want a bloody good wage too!

I have a 400 mile trip down south on sunday, really hope we get filled up ok. We come back Easter Mon as well, that could be a ball of fun!

No fuel left at our local garages.

I had resisted the urge to panic buy petrol but after today my tank was nearly empty so I've just been out to fill up and all the local ones are out of petrol.

In the end a very lovely man told me where still had fuel and after a 40 minute wait I managed to fill up.

Going to not use the car unless I have to, this will get worse before it gets better!

No queues really where we are (S.London) but I drove to France & back today (work related), & noticed that the services on the M25 put up the price of petrol by 2p from 8am today to when I came back at 7pm. Bastards. Considering that they were hugely overpriced anyway to start with as well! Yet people were still queuing for it, despite the radio reports saying there won't be any kind of strike for at least a week.

Filled up in France (at a hugely inflated price as well compared to here, ouch! ) and that will have to do me for a month. DH has about 1/4 tank left, & that will have to do him. I just feel sorry for everyone in rural areas with shite public transport, at least round here we do have an alternative for local journeys.

Aby "Yet people were still queuing for it, despite the radio reports saying there won't be any kind of strike for at least a week"

Thats the thing though, I went to get petrol because I had none left and I had to queue because it was the only garage in town that still had fuel. It wasn't panic buying, it was just buying what petrol I would normally be buying but having to queue for it. The choice, if you need fuel, is queue for petrol or no petrol.

We have 1 local filling station, next one is 27 miles away and the next after that aournd 55 miles. We have no public transport. I'm fine for diesel as dh tops me up. I am delighted there is a threat of a strike because it might have an impact on the haulage industry- my business is a haulage firm and we are finding it immensely tough. Perhaps when the lorries are parked up and can't get fuel, can't deliver the milk and bread, fruit and veg, perhaps then more people will realise just how much of what we own actually travels by road transport- everything? Do you own any item which did not travel by lorry?- then perhaps the something will be done.

Oh crikey of course not. How silly of me.

I think the govt have fumbled this.

People are understandably concerned remembering the time when the fuel depots were blockaded and the entire country ground to a halt.

This is different. Times are different. The drivers are going on strike which means they must give a week's notice. This tells us two very important thing. Namely, when they are going and when they will return.

This gives everyone time to prepare, unlike last time where it all happened in the space of one afternoon. We can fill up at that point and businesses can make contingency plans.

As I understand it, the crux of the argument is that the unionised drivers want to keep it unionised to stop others from undercutting them by citing health & safety concerns. This also tells me that there will be non-unionised drivers available. I doubt this time the police will allow terminal's to be blockaded.

In short, there should be absolutely no need for panic buying. The govt would have been better off downplaying the impact and instead concentrating on how the union is really trying to cling onto a cartel rather than allowing fair competition in the market place. But they've buggered it up. So here we are.

I think 'fumbled' is a nice way of putting it, but then you are a niceguy!

I think 'fumbled' is a massive understatement. How the hell did they make such a balls of the whole thing? Is there something really bad going on they want to distract us from? Burying bad news and all that.

This is a governmental masterstroke....

1. Extra tax revenue before end of financial year.
2. Spread the panic so any strike has less of a effect on business/ economy.
3. Induce strike 'fatigue' / ge people anti the strikers before it happens.
4. (Now) claim accidental slip by Cameron and he didn't mean to induce panic.
5. (future) crow about how THEY avoided mass shortages.

Don't agree with them, per se but can't help admiring there cheek... Mark my words no. 5 is coming....

Totally agree Sarcalogos

The union appears to have ruled out a strike over Easter.

How long does a vote to strike remain valid authority to invoke action?