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

[Iggle Piggle]

I'm sure other parts of the country have a lower proportion of selfish impatient cockjugglers. Sussex has got very special in places.

I'm in the Midlands. The posh parts of Warwickshire are all out or running low with extensive queues but venture into some of the nastier areas of Birmingham or Coventry and its in and out in 5 minutes. I had no problem in Chelmsley Wood which sounds a lot nicer than the reality of the complete shithole that it is.

I couldn't prove this of course but I'd wager that if you overlaid wealth in the area against where stocks are lowest, you'd find a correlation along with a load of 4 x 4's stuck on the driveway with a full tank.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Unworkable. But I do think banning of jerry cans would be an easy start and get rid of a small part of the problem

I suspect it would create a problem for football clubs trying to keep the grass down. (And anyone else with motorised lawn mowers or similar devices.)

 

[zefarelly]

I'm in the Midlands. The posh parts of Warwickshire are all out or running low with extensive queues but venture into some of the nastier areas of Birmingham or Coventry and its in and out in 5 minutes. I had no problem in Chelmsley Wood which sounds a lot nicer than the reality of the complete shithole that it is.

I couldn't prove this of course but I'd wager that if you overlaid wealth in the area against where stocks are lowest, you'd find a correlation along with a load of 4 x 4's stuck on the driveway with a full tank.

I've just thought of a bright side. my NDN is a bit of a juggler, has a monstrous juice guzzling motor, haven't seen him or the car since Monday.

 

[Insel affe]

I couldn't prove this of course but I'd wager that if you overlaid wealth in the area against where stocks are lowest, you'd find a correlation along with a load of 4 x 4's stuck on the driveway with a full tank.

Off topic slightly, but a rant nevertheless...
I went to Guernsey recently that has a speed limit of 35mph and all single file narrow roads, where folks drive on the path because roads are so narrow, not a dual carriage anywhere....

I have never seen so many Porches and Land Rovers, beggars belief to be honest, just why.....
They can't all catch the ferry to the main land for work everyday

 

[Silverhatch]

In general terms London & South East hardest hit by fuel shortages (BBC/Sky). I wonder if Boris is getting phone calls from the 73 of 84 conservative parliamentary MPs in the Blue Wall south east?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

No, I'm saying Government Ministers are hypocrites. Who knew?

I would imagine army HGV drivers are on an army pay scale. They can’t double (and more) army pay to accommodate competition with general lorry driver pay. As always you have to take into account many factors when managing anything. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and pick apart one thing without having the responsibility for the unintended consequences. Didn’t this all begin with BP and others in dispute with their drivers over pay ? Much easier to blame the Government though.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

What are the parts of the country you are referring to? Would be interested to see if the areas with no queues correlate with areas of low population density rather than 'people being made of sterner stuff'.

Very few queues in Birkenhead and Liverpool from my observation. High population density and high community spirit.

 

[zefarelly]

Very few queues in Birkenhead and Liverpool from my observation. High population density and high community spirit.

and no wheels to go anywhere


It is a private industry issue . . . . nothing to do with governement really, althougfh the underlaying issues are another subject entirely.

 

[portslade seagull]

Mrs P just drove straight into Tesco's no queue and filled up, must be easing a bit

 

[zefarelly]

Hoyer supply Shell and BP. they're the main culprits in the current dispute. Hoyer are short of drivers.

Tesco for example, employ their own drivers.

we're building a load of tanker lorries for Greenergy at the moment . . . . no idea when they'll be finished, or if there's anyone to drive them away!

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

and no wheels to go anywhere


It is a private industry issue . . . . nothing to do with governement really, althougfh the underlaying issues are another subject entirely.

Yeah, but we need those wheels for something so sadly we still need petrol

 

[Dave the hatosaurus]

Very few queues in Birkenhead and Liverpool from my observation. High population density and high community spirit.

Seen more than a few posts on here like yours about the situation being better elsewhere , do i believe them - yes i do . It has been suggested that this is possibly due to population density , affluence etc but i am more inclined to go with your second reasoning about community spirit .
There is very little doubt in my mind that the majority in the south east are extremely selfish , arrogant , pompous , me first , twits of the highest order !
Very quick to point the finger but low on responsibility . Indeed if i didn't love the county of sussex so much i would have moved long ago .

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

and no wheels to go anywhere


It is a private industry issue . . . . nothing to do with governement really, althougfh the underlaying issues are another subject entirely.

It is, but private industry isn't very good at dealing with very sudden changes to it's labour market. HGV drivers aren't the only sector dealing with a sudden loss of workforce, construction industry is taking a big hit too.

Typically supply and demand stretches out over a longer time period, thereby wages for a sector gradually rises to compensate for shortages with costs rising to cover that and budgets amending with costs passed on and so forth. We're currently faced with needing to train and create newly qualified people to fill the positions, again takes time, and this is something the government could have prepared for because some of the problem is simply getting the training done, or getting newly qualified drivers their papers to hand.

A haulage company can't just slap a 25% payrise on everyone and not have that covered in the fees it charges, it perhaps can take part of the hit, but not all of it. We'll be paying for it at some point at the pumps and on the shelves along with the % duties to be added.

 

[southstandandy]

Sainsburys Lyons farm ok at moment. Didn't need fuel but only about 2 cars in the queue.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I would imagine army HGV drivers are on an army pay scale. They can’t double (and more) army pay to accommodate competition with general lorry driver pay. As always you have to take into account many factors when managing anything. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and pick apart one thing without having the responsibility for the unintended consequences. Didn’t this all begin with BP and others in dispute with their drivers over pay ? Much easier to blame the Government though.

I don't believe so, I think what we have learnt from the last few days is that the industry has been warning that this has been coming for a number of years and the Government has totally ignored it.
Here's an FT article predicting it 5 months ago. Maybe the Government should appoint a Minister with responsibility for checking the news

Industry associations and leading UK freight companies said that unless urgent steps were taken to address shortages, strains now visible within the industry would become evident to the public by the end of the summer.

While the sector has endured chronic driver shortages in recent decades, these have become acute thanks to a “triple whammy” of Brexit ending recruitment from the EU, a backlog of driving tests caused by Covid-19 and self-employment tax reforms that have exacerbated the outflow of EU drivers.

“Britain has had a chronic driver shortage for many years, but the problem is now acute. In 10 years of campaigning on this issue we have never seen members as concerned as they are now,” said Alex Veitch, policy manager at Logistics UK, the trade body that was formerly the Freight Transport Association.

https://www.ft.com/content/4d6b3be1-627e-4784-afc5-91da326cabdc

It was hardly Mystic Meg territory was it

 

[Fungus]

Sainsburys in Truro out of fuel again at the moment. One of the workers told me they are getting all their regular tanker deliveries, but people just keep topping up - he cited one customer that could only get £4 in!

 

[A1X]

I'm convinced "topping up" is causing a huge amount of this. There has to be a way of stopping this.

 

[Bozza]

I'm convinced "topping up" is causing a huge amount of this. There has to be a way of stopping this.

I'm not sure.

Whether I...

- fill up once a month, when I'm pretty much empty, or
- top up every week from 3/4 to full

...I'm buying the same volume of fuel.

It's consumption that really makes the difference, once the initial crazy period is over, and I'd expect consumption to be down, not up. Many people will be making small adjustments to their behaviour - maybe not undertaking longer drives - postponing them for another time, or being a bit more aware of how they are driving, trying to be more efficient.

 

[nickbrighton]

Sainsburys in Truro out of fuel again at the moment. One of the workers told me they are getting all their regular tanker deliveries, but people just keep topping up - he cited one customer that could only get £4 in!

and this is why it will take a long time to resolve. Peoples selfishness is now starting to impact majorly on other peoples livelihoods

My lodger now has his work van virtually empty, he has enough left for a few miles no more, that limits him to the gyratory petrol station. He needs his vehicle to transport tools, supplies etc and so no cant work, or is limited to those jobs he can get to by bus or walk. He cant carry power tool, sheets of platserboard, pots of paint by bus or on foot.

The gyratory was open for a short time yesterday, but by the time we had walked to check it was empty. Had he driven the car would in all probability run out on the way back-

He is self employed, if he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid, If all the Four pound top ups and the like hadn't chances are we would be nearly out of this by now

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I don't believe so, I think what we have learnt from the last few days is that the industry has been warning that this has been coming for a number of years and the Government has totally ignored it.
Here's an FT article predicting it 5 months ago. Maybe the Government should appoint a Minister with responsibility for checking the news

Industry associations and leading UK freight companies said that unless urgent steps were taken to address shortages, strains now visible within the industry would become evident to the public by the end of the summer.

While the sector has endured chronic driver shortages in recent decades, these have become acute thanks to a “triple whammy” of Brexit ending recruitment from the EU, a backlog of driving tests caused by Covid-19 and self-employment tax reforms that have exacerbated the outflow of EU drivers.

“Britain has had a chronic driver shortage for many years, but the problem is now acute. In 10 years of campaigning on this issue we have never seen members as concerned as they are now,” said Alex Veitch, policy manager at Logistics UK, the trade body that was formerly the Freight Transport Association.

https://www.ft.com/content/4d6b3be1-627e-4784-afc5-91da326cabdc

It was hardly Mystic Meg territory was it

I don’t doubt it. Running the country is a tough job..:unlike complaining about it.