panic buying of petrol.....idiocy, or what?

barbiedoll

We put our usual thirty quids worth in early this morning, enough to get OH to work and back and for me to do the weekend running around.

I feel sorry for the woman who sustained burns when filling up a jug in her kitchen. It's this sort of scaremongering that leads people to do stupid things, she wanted to put some petrol in her daughter's car because they couldn't buy any locally. No-one will be doing any more driving than they normally do, and as the kids break up this week, there will be less traffic on the roads. People who wouldn't normally fill their tanks or who won't be using their cars anyway, have all rushed out and stocked up, leading to the queues and the shortages that we have seen.

It seems to be spreading to the supermarkets too, if my local Morrisons is anything to go by. The shelves were practically empty last night, are people panic-buying toilet roll in case the delivery lorries can't get fuel? One hint of a bread lorry running out of fuel on the M25 and we'll all be foraging for our dinner within a week!

Marvel1

All normal for me.

On the way to work this morning for some overtime, I was just above the 1/4, it was end of the month (payday) where I usually put £40 in a month (soon to rise I think), and I was passing the Petrol Station so I thought do it now rather than tomorrow. It was 6:20am, and no queueing.

alastairq

my grass is growing!

If I fill one of my petrol cans up, will I start another panic?

zappahey

redux wrote: »

However I can imagine that if I'd been to one of those places said to be restricting people to only £15 worth at the moment, that would have been rather tedious, especially if someone wanted to accuse me of buying more than normal or more than my fair share. Only being allowed £15 worth would mean 7 visits to fill up completely, or stop to fill up again every 100 minutes or so on a trip.

See, I think this is the wrong way round. There should be a £50 minimum spend to stop all the idiots from filling up every time the gauge drops below full.

Obviously with appropriate exception for vehicles with smaller tanks, before the pedants get in.

Sgt_Pepper_2

zappahey wrote: »

See, I think this is the wrong way round. There should be a £50 minimum spend to stop all the idiots from filling up every time the gauge drops below full.

Obviously with appropriate exception for vehicles with smaller tanks, before the pedants get in.

How would you enforce that then?

"Oh dear it's full at £35 I thought it would take £50"

top_banana

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

How would you enforce that then?

"Oh dear it's full at £35 I thought it would take £50"

Looks like the Sunday Express is trying to scare people again....

Front Page:
http://www.express.co.uk/ourpaper/view/2012-04-01



WE'LL BRING BRITAIN TO A HALT
Sunday April 1,2012

THOUSANDS of lorry drivers are preparing to join strike action by tanker drivers to bring Britain to a standstill within a month.


Plans by 4,000 truckers to stop strike-busting soldiers in their tracks are well advanced. They want to blockade refineries and are aiming to cause gridlock on motorways to stop the Army movement of tankers.

An alliance has been formed between Unite union tanker drivers, whose grievance is mainly over terms and safety issues, and the resurgent Fuel Lobby whose supporters are furious about rocketing fuel prices.
The man organising the supporting action is farmer and haulier Andrew Spence, who was instrumental in the blockades in 2000 which led to 3,000 petrol stations running out of fuel and caused widespread chaos on the roads.

top_banana

zappahey wrote: »

See, I think this is the wrong way round. There should be a £50 minimum spend to stop all the idiots from filling up every time the gauge drops below full.

Obviously with appropriate exception for vehicles with smaller tanks, before the pedants get in.

Not a good idea... my other half's Hyundai I10 does not even take £50.
she will get a little over £40 if your lucky.

Lum

^^^

zappahey wrote: »

See, I think this is the wrong way round. There should be a £50 minimum spend to stop all the idiots from filling up every time the gauge drops below full.

Obviously with appropriate exception for vehicles with smaller tanks, before the pedants get in.

You may have defeated the pedants, but you cannot defeat the people who only read half the post before commenting! :rotfl:


FWIW, the only way I can think of to enforce your aim fairly would be to have someone on the forecourt checking everyone's fuel gauges and turning away people who are above half a tank.

Perhaps these people could work their way down the queue, like they do at McDonalds drive throughs on busy days, and telling people they wont get their pump activated so may as well just go away now.

StephenM_2

Two examples of where I would spend less than £50 that have nothing to do with panic buying.

1. Filling up a hire car just before returning it to avoid the car hire firm's extortionate refuel rates.
2. A few days before I know that I'm going part exchange a car, knowing that I need a small amount of fuel in the interim but not wanting to waste money on a full tank.

Crabman

barbiedoll wrote: »

I feel sorry for the woman who sustained burns when filling up a jug in her kitchen. It's this sort of scaremongering that leads people to do stupid things, she wanted to put some petrol in her daughter's car because they couldn't buy any locally.

The explanation seems suspicious. If her teenage daughter's car needed petrol, why would she transfer the petrol from a petrol can (safe and approved storage device) into a jug?

Once in the jug, how would it get into her daughter's car without spilling? What about evaporation of the precious and scarce fuel from the jug? It doesn't make much sense given the fuel was in a petrol can to start with. More likely she was simply hoarding fuel, not dissimilar to the 75 year old woman who had 20 empty 1 gallon paint tins and a tray of jam jars full of fuel.

The advice from the government does not excuse the fact that she unfortunately appeared to not realise that decanting fuel in an enclosed space in front of a lit gas cooker would not end well.