Fuel shortage - statistical assumptions

[Deleted User]

RumRat said:

The shortage is only due to the brainless idiots who filled up their tanks instead of the usual £20 they pump in once a week. The same brainless idiots who bought bog roll by the gross, knuckle draggers of the first order.
Tanker drivers are not just everyday truckers and there are no less than there was on the run up to this. If the idiots hadn't panicked there would have been enough to last until deliveries commence again during the week.
OP I believe your analysis is correct and now that the brainless have filled up the demand will ease. 

OK rant over....Apologies....

It was caused by BBC, Newspapers etc scaremongering - that brainless idiots went out (and are still going out) to fill their cars and spare cans with fuel at the same time  - but knowing that doesn't help ME at the moment - despite what the government says "that less than half" of all filling stations are affected - Yet I cannot find a single litre of petrol within a 10 mile radus of my home - if I go further afield and stilll can't find any and run out - then what ?

ll I want is £10 worth

Username03725

Deleted_User said:

It was caused by BBC, Newspapers etc scaremongering 

The initial reports weren't scaremongering as you put it, they were reporting a simple fact, that BP were having difficulties in getting fuel to outlets. The subsequent reaction by the public and the media then picking up on outcomes of that reaction were a self-perpetuating force, but to blame the initial issue on the media - and specifically the BBC - is a bit shooting the messenger.

And I don't know about you but I'm not comfortable with the idea of a media that reports only on things that the govt of the day approves of or deems suitable for broadcast. It's been heading that way for a while now and nobody comes out of it smelling nice.

In the old days the BP problem could have had a D Notice slapped on it, but that's not happening these days in a world where social media is a major news provider. Imagine the fuss if Twitter & FB were full of reports of some BP garages having no fuel and what we must now call the MSM were keeping quiet about it. As they say, be careful what you wish for...

flaneurs_lobster

No queue and plenty of fuel at the Tesco in Glasgow G21. Just in case someone wants to fill up a few ziplock bags.

Langtang

gavinbaxter said:

No queue and plenty of fuel at the Tesco in Glasgow G21. Just in case someone wants to fill up a few ziplock bags.

That's a bit extravagant. I was just going to douse myself in petrol*, and ring out my clothes when I got home. There'll be a run on zip bags now.

* The WHO will issue a waring later tonight not to douse yourself in fuel.

outtatune

Deleted_User said:

RumRat said:

The shortage is only due to the brainless idiots who filled up their tanks instead of the usual £20 they pump in once a week. The same brainless idiots who bought bog roll by the gross, knuckle draggers of the first order.
Tanker drivers are not just everyday truckers and there are no less than there was on the run up to this. If the idiots hadn't panicked there would have been enough to last until deliveries commence again during the week.
OP I believe your analysis is correct and now that the brainless have filled up the demand will ease. 

OK rant over....Apologies....

It was caused by BBC, Newspapers etc scaremongering

No, they factually reported that a small number of petrol stations were having delivery problems, and quoted government sources saying that everything was fine.

People made their own assessment of what the actual facts of the matter were, and decided that when this government says that everything is fine, it's time to panic.

Laz123

grandadgolfer said:

If you want to see stupid/selfish

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/27/panic-buyer-filmed-filling-up-water-bottles-with-petrol-at-m25-garage-15324320/

This takes first prize for stupidity......just a shame her face wasn't shown to embarrass her 

How do you know that... she could be running a fleet of water tankers.

Laz123

greyteam1959 said:

Laz123 said:

BTW petrol has a shelf life of 3 to 6 months.

Now going into political mode: there is a fuel crisis, obviously caused by moronic panic buying. Many petrol stations have completely run out. This situation has been fuelled (sorry) buy Brexit and lack of HGV drivers. This idiotic government has made noises that the army may have to intervene. Well, make it happen then.

Rubbish...........
My petrol engine car has stood in a car park in Spain for 11 months with a full tank of petrol.
Just driven 400 miles in it.

Alright, alright, calm down. The drive has obviously made you a bit liverish. I was only quoting official statistics.

[Deleted User]

Retailers ae reporting that there is no change in the situation

BBC News - Petrol driver shortage: No improvement in supplies, say retailers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58747281

grandadgolfer

grandadgolfer said:

If you want to see stupid/selfish

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/27/panic-buyer-filmed-filling-up-water-bottles-with-petrol-at-m25-garage-15324320/

This takes first prize for stupidity......just a shame her face wasn't shown to embarrass her 

We have a new contender for the stupidity award

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/29/more-petrol-fights-break-out-and-men-are-filmed-filling-bin-bag-with-fuel-15335120/

RumRat

Username03725 said:

RumRat said:

The shortage is only due to the brainless idiots who filled up their tanks instead of the usual £20 they pump in once a week. The same brainless idiots who bought bog roll by the gross, knuckle draggers of the first order.
Tanker drivers are not just everyday truckers and there are no less than there was on the run up to this. If the idiots hadn't panicked there would have been enough to last until deliveries commence again during the week.
OP I believe your analysis is correct and now that the brainless have filled up the demand will ease. 

OK rant over....Apologies....

I hope you feel better for that outburst. However...

I managed to get some today, having left it for a few days as I wasn't going anywhere and still had ~60 miles range left, and I'd assumed that by now the queues would be starting to tail off. They aren't and as I've got better things to do than queue for fuel for an hour or so every few days I'll take the pragmatic option and put more in to see me through the next week or two.

Yes I can see the contradiction, but it's the real world we live in and I know full well that if I were to just put enough in for the next couple of days, two things are an absolute certainty: me putting £20 in instead of £50 won't make the slightest difference to the current crisis, and that relying on everybody else to do their bit is such a preposterous idea that it's not even worth suggesting it as a solution. We don't live in a mythical war-time Britain where everybody pulled together. We never did; that's a myth conjured up from darker times. We live in age where stepping aside in the hope of helping things is a waste of time. A self-fulfilling prophecy maybe, but that's where this country is in 2021.

I'd love it to be like the village where I grew up where you left your keys in the ignition if you left your car outside the pub on a Friday night so that anyone blocked in could move it before you got back on Saturday morning, but that's gone. Britain is full of selfish buggers, sadly I've realised that, and other than feeling good about it there's no upside to sticking £20 of fuel in instead of £50. 

I felt much better thankyou.
No queues now (around here anyway), so, proving the fuel companies and petrol station owners correct, they could cope if people just fuelled up normally. I don't disagree with you that there is a large swathe of selfish people around and I long ago gave up on people doing the right thing. That doesn't make the point mute that if they hadn't been, there would have been no 'crisis'.