Why are people scrambling for petrol?

nick74

Where I am (rural Lincs) the filling stations seem slightly busier than normal, but no queues as such now and all fuels available. Perhaps being relatively close to the Lindsey Refinery helps? 

Blackjack_Davy

Grumpy_chap said:

beckstar1975 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

BOWFER said:

Herzlos said:

I wonder if there's any correlation between fuel supplies and political stance in various regions.I guess we'll find out at some point.

Gee whizz, that's wild...
The Tories punishing certain areas, that's what you're suggesting?
If that were the case, Scotland would have zero fuel, but we're actually all laughing at England scrapping.

I think, if that were the case, solid blue Surrey would have no fuel.  Red wall seats borrowed from Labour would be overflowing with fuel as the Govt tries to secure their repeat votes.

I actually don't think the Government are clever enough to think up something like that and, almost certainly, would not be able to manage the logistics chain to achieve that outcome even if they wanted to.  FWIW, if the other lot were in charge, I don't think they could manage this type of outcome either.

I am in 'Solid Blue Surrey' (London borders) and not one of our 13 nearest petrol stations has fuel. It's absolutely insane here, literally not a drop

If the Range Rover has run out of fuel, simply take the Roller...
And if there are scoundrel protester blocking the M25, take the chopper...

The Roller and the chopper are out of fuel too

The SE is dire theres not a pump within 30 miles of here with a drop of fuel in it they're all empty. I swear some people are spending the night in their cars outside sainsburys filling station hoping to be there if a tanker turns up

sheramber

if UK has a shortage of drivers because so many have returned home to Europe, why is there a shortage in Europe.?

They should all be working over there now. 

photome

sheramber said:

if UK has a shortage of drivers because so many have returned home to Europe, why is there a shortage in Europe.?

They should all be working over there now. 

are they queueing for the pumps in Europe, is there any empty shelves in Europe ?

Grumpy_chap

Blackjack_Davy said:

The SE is dire theres not a pump within 30 miles of here with a drop of fuel in it they're all empty. I swear some people are spending the night in their cars outside sainsburys filling station hoping to be there if a tanker turns up

I am not sure where in SE you are - I'm in West London and the local Tesco receives a tanker every morning (at least) and my wife was still able to fill up yesterday evening on the way home from work.  The queues are not that long, full forecourt plus around half-a-dozen cars overflowing out to the road.

[Deleted User]

sheramber said:

if UK has a shortage of drivers because so many have returned home to Europe, why is there a shortage in Europe.?

They should all be working over there now. 

Shortage everywhere, but we have brexit as well (with the bad attitude to foreign labour from government etc.). That compounds the issue, self inflicted. Hence the government u turns and daft responses and letter to German UK nationals to drive trucks if they got their licence pre 97 and so on.

Plastic shortage now, turkeys for xmas under threat, pig farmers worried, etc. etc. and I have never seen so much empty spaces on the shelves at the local supermarket, no matter how much they spread stuff out.

No slack in the system, this was going to out itself no matter what. Question now is what next.

ontheroad1970

Ibrahim5 said:

The government just needs to get used to governing again. When you are in the EU you lose the knack because everything is taken out of your hands.

What nonsense.  Denmark is in the EU, yet it makes its own laws - they even maintain a road border with Germany and Sweden, irrespective of the Schengen Agreement, and it's not because of COVID.  I have crossed the border in Southern Denmark and on the bridge at Malmö several times.  They make their own rules on many other things also, just as every other EU nation.  For example the laws on head gear for muslim women in France and Denmark.  Stop believing the nonsense that Farage et al spout.

CKhalvashi

sheramber said:

if UK has a shortage of drivers because so many have returned home to Europe, why is there a shortage in Europe.?

They should all be working over there now. 

Largely due to increased demand, especially from road hauling of shipping/rail containers to destination.

The UK has fared a lot worse than Europe, as at least in most of the EU the supply chain is moving.at a faster pace relative to consumption. Many EU haulage firms also don't want to come to the UK, both due to difficulty getting in/out and that there are no cabotage opportunities available now while waiting for a return load.

This is therefore more a Brexit-based issue than not, and the shortages we have seen are as a result of domestic political decisions in the UK not by any other party.

JustAnotherSaver

I can't stand people. So chuffing stupid.

If you're a 1/4 tank then you could be forgiven for needing some juice.

If you're at 3/4 tank then i don't care if you're about to set off on a 300 mile journey, you don't need to fuel up right now.

And you most certainly don't need to be emptying water bottles in a bin to then fill them up after having filled your car up. The woman that did that wants slapping in the face with those bottles.

Stations are getting absolutely hammered and only a few have sold out around here. That goes to show how much of a 'shortage' there's been - naff all.

Back in the first lockdown people stopped going places and fuel ended up dropping approx 10p per litre. Lot of money not getting spent.

What's all this madness done right now? Pushed the price up.

Claws back a bit of what wasn't spent.

But may be totally nothing to do with that and everything could be all so innocent.

Or not.

Thesaltmustflow

JustAnotherSaver said:

I can't stand people. So chuffing stupid.

If you're a 1/4 tank then you could be forgiven for needing some juice.

If you're at 3/4 tank then i don't care if you're about to set off on a 300 mile journey, you don't need to fuel up right now.

And you most certainly don't need to be emptying water bottles in a bin to then fill them up after having filled your car up. The woman that did that wants slapping in the face with those bottles.

Stations are getting absolutely hammered and only a few have sold out around here. That goes to show how much of a 'shortage' there's been - naff all.

Back in the first lockdown people stopped going places and fuel ended up dropping approx 10p per litre. Lot of money not getting spent.

What's all this madness done right now? Pushed the price up.

Claws back a bit of what wasn't spent.

But may be totally nothing to do with that and everything could be all so innocent.

Or not.

More like 30p a litre, I remember it being around 99.7p for unleaded and now it's around 1.40 up from 1.30 at the start of the 'non-event' fuel shortage.