Why are people scrambling for petrol?

TimSynths

LippyDoodle said:

troffasky said:

Hopefully someone can come up with a way to panic-buy electricity when we're all driving electric cars.

Love this!  Pity we can't put some gas and electricty in storage now! 

No probs! Tesla Powerwall will sort you out nicely for stored Electricity.

motorguy

born_again said:

ontheroad1970 said:

born_again said:

It's not the media's fault. They have just reported that BP said that a handful of their stations were closed as they could not get fuel to them.
And just who pays their inflated prices.. 9p Ltr more than supermarket for base petrol round here..

The fault is with the lemmings that are now rushing to fill up. Oblivious to the fact that there are 8000+ petrol stations in the UK.
Some one on the news last night said they had tried two petrol stations to get fuel & been turned away.. Great reporting, but plenty more stations to try....

Perhaps get a staff  member out and anyone with more than 1/2 tank gets turned away. Or tell them, Yes you can fill up but there is a min charge of £50.
But given price has gone up anyway in the last two days.. These lemmings are paying too much anyway. So laugh is with the people who are not rushing out to fill up.

You obviously didn't see the headline in The Sun yesterday,  then - "Running on Empty"  Irresponsible and counterproductive.

Does that say rush out and buy fuel?

If the sun said chop your hands off to save your life. Would the readers do that.... 

I'm sure the vast majority were not sun readers that were waiting at the stations.

Oh come on now, hardly the same thing is it?

There has been many headlines across many news outlets with headlines that have spun up panic and hysteria by mis-representing the situation.

But then "1% of BP stations affected by transport issues" doesnt sell papers does it?

Thesaltmustflow

If the Sun said chop your hands off to save your life, I'm afraid I would be in the group that dies, I don't read the Sun and never have 

Dr_Crypto

My car is out of diesel. The stations closest to me are either closed completely or had no diesel. I had to take my wife’s motor today since I’m on a job and needed to drive there. 

A paramedic was telling me that ambulance service have plans to use their fuel supplies to fill up staff cars if it becomes critical. 

JIL

neilmcl said:

JIL said:

I actually think it's all a big ploy.

The government as per usual are dithering on the lack of HGV drivers, with little or no action. 

So BP shut a few petrol stations and get the media involved. Mass panic, big queues, people moaning and the government forced to act.

There's no lack of qualified HGV drivers, the problem is the pay and conditions have been that bad for many years nearly half of them no longer want to do the job and we've been relying on cheap, foreign labour for too long. The haulage industry are just as much to blame than the government.

So there is a lack of drivers?  If half no longer wish to do the job, then it surely follows there is a shortage.

user1977

Presumably it will sort itself out soon enough once all the panic-buyers have full tanks. A bit like all the cupboards still stuffed full of bog roll and pasta.

elsien

JIL said:

neilmcl said:

JIL said:

I actually think it's all a big ploy.

The government as per usual are dithering on the lack of HGV drivers, with little or no action. 

So BP shut a few petrol stations and get the media involved. Mass panic, big queues, people moaning and the government forced to act.

There's no lack of qualified HGV drivers, the problem is the pay and conditions have been that bad for many years nearly half of them no longer want to do the job and we've been relying on cheap, foreign labour for too long. The haulage industry are just as much to blame than the government.

So there is a lack of drivers?  If half no longer wish to do the job, then it surely follows there is a shortage.

There’s also a hold up at DVLA. Chap on the radio yesterday decided to get back into HGV driving but his licence had lapsed. Redid his medical, sent everything off to DVLA. 17 weeks later and he’s still not heard anything. Can’t be the only one. 

username

user1977 said:

Presumably it will sort itself out soon enough once all the panic-buyers have full tanks. A bit like all the cupboards still stuffed full of bog roll and pasta.

Hopefully very much so. There is only so much people will drive and 'panic buyers' won't alter their habits as regards driving.

I think the underlying issue is that some people do not have confidence in the government or infrastructure.

Perhaps the person at whichever fuel company that had the issue with supply at a few stations shouldn't have been so loose with his tongue.

If there was genuinely no issue with the supply chain, then perhaps the issue could have been contained and localised, yet the mass panic caused by small talk will knock the entire chain out of kilter.

Dr_Crypto

Nobody has any confidence in the government to get anything right. All
our idiot PM could do was whiter on about Gulliver and guy ropes. 

Grumpy_chap

Thesaltmustflow said:

If the Sun said chop your hands off to save your life, I'm afraid I would be in the group that dies, I don't read the Sun and never have 

If all these red-top readers cut off their hands, how will they gesticulate wildly over the content of the paper?