Petrol running low

gardner1

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Yes its a gas guzzler if you want to call it that but IT RARELY GETS USED so in actuality is exactly the same as someone who drives a less petrol hungry motor more often.

It sounds like you have anger issues which need to be addressed if you think someone panic buying and driving a thirsty car is a "!!!!!!".

well what would you call someone who sits in a queue for petrol which will take weeks to use and ensures petrol supplies run dry

mattyprice4004

I drive a lot for my work, I have a car that's awful on fuel and I will continue to drive as I do despite the shortages.

I just go and fill up at 1am from the local 24 hour garage, I was one of the last to get fuel before they closed. It's like a ghost town now, everyone's staying inside today it seems.

Edit: And yes, I suppose I do fall under 'panic buying'. My car is essential for my business, so when I heard about possible strikes I put £80 of diesel in. Big whoop.

s_b

neilmcl wrote: »

Did she queue up like everyone else or did she, as I suspect, walk right up to the pump jumping in front of anyone already queuing there. Perhaps that might be the reason she got a load of abuse.

no she stood between two cars as they moved down the line whistlting dixie dee
of course she queue jumped because by the time the customer had paid and removed his car she could full up in the gap inconveniencing no one

and anyone who had a bit of gum up top could work this out for themselves
one would hope

redux

Notmyrealname wrote: »

What car only has a 6-7 gallon tank?

There are some

The original Mini had a 5.5 gallon = 25 litre tank.

Some economy versions of the smallest current models have tanks of 25 to 35 litres

redux

Lum wrote: »

Well to be fair the government have said pretty much exactly that, and the media have reported as such, with a spin that was entirely predictable.

Yesterday we had a government minister tell people to keep a jerry can in their garage. Today Cameron is telling people not to let their tanks get below a half.

Sure the media will exaggerate and sensationalise but this government know full well that this will happen, they've taken advantage of it often enough to get the media to attack groups they don't like, so these comments were either monumentally stupid or intentional.

So yes I'm blaming the government.

Maybe their plan is altruistic, they want to get a good chunk of the panic buying out of the way now so that if a strike does actually happen, but to be honest I doubt this. Cameron doesn't care about ordinary people. This is all about discrediting the unions and people they associate with (e.g. Labour)

Strider590 wrote: »

^^ The thing with the half tank of fuel, was that most people drive about 1/4 tank at a time, not many people actually fill their car.
They were simply telling us to keep a little more in reserve than we normally would.... But of course the tabloid press twisted this and turned it into mass panic. We had a threat of strikes a few years ago and it turned into nothing, no panic buying, no problems, but for some reason it's been blown out of all proportions this time.

The worst of it is that by the time the strikes happen (if they do), all the panic buyers will be running out of fuel again and the impact will be far greater.

The forst post is correct to blame the government, and the second wrong to shift it to the press.

The government have clearly planned the suggestions about stockpiling.

Here is an article by Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9176237/Even-Im-starting-to-wonder-what-do-this-lot-know-about-anything.html

But now that I have heard the Conservatives’ private explanation, which is being handed down to constituency associations by MPs, I begin to feel angry.

The private message is as follows. “This is our Thatcher moment. In order to defeat the coming miners’ strike, she stockpiled coal. When the strike came, she weathered it, and the Labour Party, tarred by the strike, was humiliated. In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers’ strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled. Then, if the strike comes, we will weather it, and Labour, in hock to the Unite union, will be blamed.”

There is a key difference which ministers have not spotted. When Mrs Thatcher piled up the coal at power stations until the strike began in 1984, she was not inconveniencing the public. In 2012, the Coalition is trying to press-gang the public, without saying so, into its political battles. All those people queuing on the forecourts were pawns in a Government-organised blame-game.

So what we have been treated to this week was a deliberate exercise in social engineering, cynical in its intent, incompetent in its execution, and arrogant in motive, fuelled by self-deluding fantasies of self-aggrandisement and union-bashing, left over from when these clowns were at school.

A vital difference is that before taking on the miners Thatcher had nearly a year's stockpile of coal built up without having any disruption. It is quite impossible to have a stockpile of vehicle fuel that lasts on average much more than a couple of weeks, unless Francis Maude's can in the garage is actually a couple of IBCs.

We need these idiots to grow up.

iltisman

The maximum time without fuel supply would be about a week then power station workers etc would not get to work then its game over -food riots etc.

Lum

Yes, I remember the power cuts and food riots well from last time this happened. Wasn't it terrible?:rotfl:

alastairq

iltisman wrote: »

The maximum time without fuel supply would be about a week then power station workers etc would not get to work then its game over -food riots etc.

According to posts elsewhere, they would all be sacked instantly, since apparently employers don't recognise the inability to obtain fuel as an excuse for not getting into work.

almillar

Strider, it may have gone up by exactly 3p in every station local to you, but that's just garage owners (or oil suppliers) setting prices, NOT a duty rise. The gov take plenty in fuel duty already, and will benefit in VAT (20% of £1.45 is more than 20% of £1.42), but the rises you saw were not the gov's fault this time.
The gov hasn't made a single penny from any 'extra' fuel duty. It's set at a certain number of pence in the pound, and people aren't buying 'extra' fuel, they're just buying it 'earlier' and storing it for longer. They WILL however make more money out of any price increases that occur through supply and demand, through VAT as above.
Maybe more people will actually drive around with some fuel in their car after getting a fright, then there will be fewer visits to petrol stations, and we'll ALL be able to buy our fuel faster instead of queuing behind people buying £10 or 1/4 tanks at a time.
Now please stop because I feel ill after defending the government on fuel prices!

Wig

LOL, no queues at all this week so far at any of the stations I pass by. The Tesco that was closed in Treforest is now open again.