[News] There's no need to panic buy petrol

[jessiejames]

The panic buying is a thing involving (primarily) private motorists, is it not?

Limiting lorries and buses to thirty quidsworth (which nobody has suggested) would be at least as stupid as introducing a £50 minimum for small private cars.

My £50 was just a suggestion, and yes you put your argument over better. Unfortunately I can't see a way forward. On radio 4 on Tuesday there was some mathematician who spent a day working out average daily usage and how much fuel is used in average a day, his conclusion was this will be over by Friday as everyone will have enough. Can't see it. Hopefully this weekend fingers crossed.

 

[Bry Nylon]

There must be millions of cars now sat with full tanks that they don't really use or need but their owners are smugly thinking " I'm all right jack " .

 

[Wardy's twin]

A follow up to my lorry drivers view of th e driver shortage and Brexit, this is not so much about Brexit, as that is only 20% of the driver shortage, there are still 80,000 drivers short. This started back in 2009, with the DCPC many older drivers refused to do this and gave up their licence. Government have been warned about this since, 12 years later it come to fruition.
HGV drivers are treated like shit, give us lorry parks, somewhere we can feel safe in, not these grotty services, where you would not even wash a dog in for a shower.
People are still panicking about the fuel, yes I managed to fill my truck up this morning the person on the pump down from me filled his up at a total cost of £12. He thought it was funny when I said to him that he was a bell end and causing the shortage, only to be told that it's my ****ing fault being a lorry driver.
The media have blown this out of proportion by reporting it. The shortage is only with BP and Shell because Hoyer supply them, and a lot of the drivers have left due to low pay compared with other companies.
Unless people stop panic buying fuel this will go on for a long time, all the while this is happening lorry drivers are getting low on Derv, this means more chances of empty shelves in the supermarket then more panic buying. Bring in a minimum spend at fuel pumps of £50.

Key workers are those that have the letter from the government and NHS that classes them as Key workers.

What's your view of the DCPC because on the face of it its a good idea.

IMO Brexit is part of the problem and along with COVID has probably tipped the balance and brought forward what was inevitable.

I agree with what you say regards how drivers are treated and its clearly a major issue , like a lot of other blue collar jobs people are just turning their noses up as there is easier ways to make a living. Not sure if using EU labour was good but it was what we had and I emphasize had.

I disagree with your comment about 'The shortage is only with BP and Shell because Hoyer supply them' the problem is that people have panicked and there is not enough capacity in garages to meet that inflated demand across all retailers. The government needs to ensure that people don't panic and act in an anarchistic manner , it's what government should do. Note its the same brand of government which has had 11 years to deal with the shortage , its also the same government which has picked a fight with the RHA who had previous brought the issue of too few drivers into discussion pre-Brexit.

 

[studio150]

. There must be millions of cars now sat with full tanks that they don't really use or need but their owners are smugly thinking " I'm all right jack " .

Which will mean that these millions of cars won't be going to the fuel pumps to top up anytime soon, so garages are restocked as normally, as queues will fall away, thereby getting back to normal, and everyone who is a high fuel user gets to fill up and carry on.

Crisis over.

 

[vegster]

Which will mean that these millions of cars won't be going to the fuel pumps to top up anytime soon, so garages are restocked as normally, as queues will fall away, thereby getting back to normal, and everyone who is a high fuel user gets to fill up and carry on.

Crisis over.

Ah but, not if as previously quoted, people are going to get in the queue to top up with £3.70 of fuel.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

The queue for Asda Hollingbury was about the longest I’ve seen it so far, approximately half an hour ago.

 

[Fat Boy Fat]

Which will mean that these millions of cars won't be going to the fuel pumps to top up anytime soon, so garages are restocked as normally, as queues will fall away, thereby getting back to normal, and everyone who is a high fuel user gets to fill up and carry on.

Crisis over.

Ah, so what you’re saying is the panic buyers have done it to help alleviate the problem, got it...

 

[Guinness Boy]

IMO Brexit is part of the problem and along with COVID has probably tipped the balance and brought forward what was inevitable.

.

Exactly.

Very obvious that it's not JUST Brexit but rather an issue that has been waiting for the perfect storm to come to a head. If this has been on the cards since 2009 then the timing of it actually happening is no coincidence. The government have admitted as much with their late-in-the-day plans to give European drivers emergency visas.

Mind, if you think it's bad now, just wait for Christmas.

 

[vegster]

The queue for Asda Hollingbury was about the longest I’ve seen it so far, approximately half an hour ago.

It's insane ! I have half a tank at the moment and I went past two garages with quite short ( 10-15 cars ) queue's today, part of me said " Quick get in there and fill up " the other part said " don't be a jerk, if you go in to that queue for petrol you don't really need, you are just going to drag others in to that queue ".... I kept going.

 

[GT49er]

My £50 was just a suggestion, and yes you put your argument over better. Unfortunately I can't see a way forward. On radio 4 on Tuesday there was some mathematician who spent a day working out average daily usage and how much fuel is used in average a day, his conclusion was this will be over by Friday as everyone will have enough. Can't see it. Hopefully this weekend fingers crossed.

I think I've still got my petrol ration book from the oil crisis of 1975 (?) somewhere. Of course, I may have chucked it the last time I stumbled across it. Don't think rationing would be the answer today, either.
Turning away anyone with more than half a tank full would help - but who would check it, and who could enforce it without being beaten up by some road rage c**t in his 4X4?

 

[B-right-on]

Agree with most of that, but for heaven's sake don't go wittering on about a £50 minimum spend. I don't think I could get fifty quidsworth into my car - and if I did, I'd have been running on fumes for the last few miles, constantly worrying whether I'll reach a petrol station or not.
I've never liked running the fuel down to the last drops - fuel guages haven't always been very accurate! -so I normally fill when the level drops a bit below quarter full, usually spending about thirty quid - give or take a bit depending on the ever fluctuating price of fuel. I don't think that's unreasonable, and will continue to do the same (and hopefully will do soon - I haven't made a dash to top up since this crisis befell us).
Didn't know about all that DCPC nonsense - successive governments (making no distinctions here) have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot - and more annoyingly, introducing legislation which is going to cost people (not them!) money!

From my understanding, a lot of it is EU regulations. So now we have left, in theory the rules could change (which is likely to take years of consultations etc...) . But not sure how this affects any British HGV drivers driving in EU.

 

[vegster]

Exactly.

Very obvious that it's not JUST Brexit but rather an issue that has been waiting for the perfect storm to come to a head. If this has been on the cards since 2009 then the timing of it actually happening is no coincidence. The government have admitted as much with their late-in-the-day plans to give European drivers emergency visas.

Mind, if you think it's bad now, just wait for Christmas.

Apparently Johnson is going to move Heaven and Earth in order to " Save " Christmas, so, that's us pretty much nailed on for a disaster.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Apparently Johnson is going to move Heaven and Earth in order to " Save " Christmas, so, that's us pretty much nailed on for a disaster.

Like he did in 2020 resulting in Christmas Dinner being the last time many saw an elderly relative and the country went into a third lockdown?

 

[vegster]

From my understanding, a lot of it is EU regulations. So now we have left, in theory the rules could change (which is likely to take years of consultations etc...) . But not sure how this affects any British HGV drivers driving in EU.

The EU are ******** when it comes to Health and Safety, getting warnings put on fag packets, beer bottles, even step ladders ! pathetic ! Now we are out we have already relaxed the rules on driver hours for lorries so the tired, overworked and often overweight drivers can drive for longer hours per week legally in the UK thus making more money for business. If the odd one falls asleep at the wheel we will just have to hope that they are not on the inside lane on a " Smart " Motorway !

 

[DumLum]

Which garage was this?

It was Esso in Crowborough

 

[B-right-on]

Ah but, not if as previously quoted, people are going to get in the queue to top up with £3.70 of fuel.

At some point, Mr £3.70 and his mates will get totally bored with queuing every time his gauge moves down and think he might skip it for a day or 3, at what point we have a chance to get back to normal.

The length of the queues is a self fulfilling catch 22, people who don't need to get fuel, see queues and think that they need to join 'just incase' which then panics to others and so on.

 

[Randy McNob]

Apparently Johnson is going to move Heaven and Earth in order to " Save " Christmas, so, that's us pretty much nailed on for a disaster.

The same heaven and earth he is using to help the Afghans or Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? Hope theres enough heaven and earh avaiable

 

[vegster]

Like he did in 2020 resulting in Christmas Dinner being the last time many saw an elderly relative and the country went into a third lockdown?

Indeed, at least he did not "Cancel Christmas " like Captain Hindsight/ Foresight wanted to !... nah, we will be fine, the government will give us a ration for one Microwaveable Jacket Potato each this Christmas to celebrate us leaving the EU with his Oven Ready deal !

 

[Wardy's twin]

Exactly.

Very obvious that it's not JUST Brexit but rather an issue that has been waiting for the perfect storm to come to a head. If this has been on the cards since 2009 then the timing of it actually happening is no coincidence. The government have admitted as much with their late-in-the-day plans to give European drivers emergency visas.

Mind, if you think it's bad now, just wait for Christmas.

Thinking of moving it forward a couple of weeks to avoid the rush/crush... oops now everyone will do it.

 

[dadams2k11]

Thinking of moving it forward a couple of weeks to avoid the rush/crush... oops now everyone will do it.

We have done most of our Xmas shopping already. Just the two main presents, and a few stocking fillers.