[News] There's no need to panic buy petrol

[dsr-burnley]

Your diet needs a serious overhaul.

My greengrocer was fully stocked up. I don't just eat lasagne sandwiches with golden syrup, tha knows.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I don't know, but your generalisation of calling lorry drivers 'thick' will probably come across as rude whether they voted leave or remain!

I think my justification has sound merit. If I told you I didn’t like oranges, then ate an orange and complained.....what would you think?

 

[Cotton Socks]

We don't have food shortages either.

I was in Sainsbury's tonight. Yes, there were a few empty shelves, as there always are just before closing time. But food shortages? These were the shortages.

1. I couldn't get my regular brand of ready-meal lasagne. I had to buy a different brand.
2. All the prepackaged wholegrain seeded bread was thick sliced. The only medium sliced was Sainsbury's own brand.
3. They had a very limited choice of frozen Yorkshire puddings.
4. They only had two sizes of aqueezy bottle golden syrup, and not the size I wanted.

On the bright side, last time I went they didn't have pitted prunes - only prunes with stones in. Fortunately that crisis is now over and pitted prunes are back.

This is not "food shortage".

To be fair there has been a shortage of bottled water in Brighton. I've been driving from shop to shop over the last week to get some sparkling Highland Spring.

 

[sparkie]

The idea that people keep saying of a 'minimum' £30 spend is fine in theory but that's if you've got the money spare. I know 2 people who are care workers that go into peoples homes. One today has had to get the bus to see clients & has obviously been late for people. That £5 bus fare has taken half their petrol money for the week. The other person I know has their car parked a mile away from their house as they ran out of petrol & there are no petrol stations near enough to walk to with a can. They haven't been able to work for 2 days now.
They both get paid shit money as it is and have jobs that fit in with looking after their kids. One has lost 2 days pay, the other one is spending a weeks worth of petrol on bus fares in two days. Not everyone can afford to fill up their tanks, let alone have a minimum spend of £30 imposed on them. If you don't need a full tank of petrol for the next couple of weeks, don't bloody fill it up!! Oh yeah and someone will be going into a garage with a petrol can to fill up my friends car with enough petrol to get to a station they know has fuel! If you need it for your job, then fine. If you're filling up 'just in case', then you are a part of the problem, so stop being a selfish idiot.

Indeed. The £30 minimum spend idea is a terrible idea that discriminates against the less well off. Petrol for the rich !

 

[sparkie]

its the queueing that's the issue , if everyone changes to keeping topped up (say at 3/4 of a tank) then garages are then having to take 3 or 4 times more customers who then drive the system very hard , max it out and kill it , then cycle repeats.

did a lot of study on work flow through computer systems for capacity and performance management in my job , the situation is very analagous... transactions (cars) stored in the network(road) waiting to be serviced and because they are servicing them all it grinds to a halt so system (garage) availability is also reduced as it wasting time dealing with bad stuff .

I don't particularly care about any queuing. It's dull to do, tedious, and timewasting but c'est la vie.

The issue for me is shut forecourts and people running out of petrol on the road.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

 

[Cotton Socks]

I think my justification has sound merit. If I told you I didn’t like oranges, then ate an orange and complained.....what would you think?

You've already said you didn't like oranges so why would you try one again? If you'd never tasted an orange and people were persuading you to try it because you'll never know until you try, would you think you were thick to try it?
I don't get into political arguments, people can vote for whoever and whatever they feel is best. I don't judge people as 'thick' if they voted for something I didn't.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I think my justification has sound merit. If I told you I didn’t like oranges, then ate an orange and complained.....what would you think?

I think your justification is flawed. I'm pretty Brexit-agnostic and have always preferred to look forward than continually look back but I would just say this: if the decision to leave the EU has exacerbated the labour shortage and this results in enhanced pay, working conditions and recognition for HGV drivers then the RHA have given advice in their member's long-term interests. The biggest problem hauliers are facing at the moment is lack of drivers so anything that helps to attract and retain drivers is in their interest.

Up until this shortage of HGV drivers, I had no idea of the appalling working conditions most HGV drivers have to endure in the UK. The problems in the supply chain that this shortage has created has given them a platform and a key way the shortfall can be addressed is by ensuring decent working conditions. I thought that would be something you would be in favour of.

The red-tape will get sorted at some point. It may not be entirely frictionless but it will be in everyone's interests to make it as smooth as possible. The structural problems in the haulage industry are far deeper.

I guess the RHA were weighing up short-term operational issues vs. long-term strategic gains and made their decision. Either way, I would never call either them or the people they represent 'thick'. That's just rude and a failure or an unwillingness to see the whole issue from both sides.

 

[beorhthelm]

We don't have food shortages either.

i havent seen general shortage since covid lockdown mk I. occasional lines missing, alternatives available, and a spell noticed the freezers bit empty early summer, and bottled water erratic. produce might be low Saturday/Sunday evening for some reason . i once went a couple of weeks without Erdinger, survived. overall little different, i dont recall getting home from shopping without anything i needed.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I will be celebrating Christmas with the family when I am back in England at the end of October (seriously).

i think its a good idea - the actual date is only relevant if you are religious.

About 15 years ago we went to Austria on 24th December for a skiing trip so the xmas dinner and presents was done the week before and no one had an issue. Some of the family had the bonus of two xmas's that year.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I think your justification is flawed. I'm pretty Brexit-agnostic and have always preferred to look forward than continually look back but I would just say this: if the decision to leave the EU has exacerbated the labour shortage and this results in enhanced pay, working conditions and recognition for HGV drivers then the RHA have given advice in their member's long-term interests.

Up until this shortage of HGV drivers, I had no idea of the appalling working conditions most HGV drivers have to endure in the UK. The problems in the supply chain that this shortage has created has given them a platform and the only way the shortfall can be addressed is by offering better pay and decent working conditions. I thought that would be something you would be in favour of.

The red-tape will get sorted at some point. It may not be entirely frictionless but it will be in everyone's interests to make it as smooth as possible. The structural problems in the haulage industry are far deeper.

I guess the RHA were weighing up short-term operational issues vs. long-term strategic gains and made their decision. Either way, I would never call either them or the people they represent 'thick'. That's just rude and a failure or an unwillingness to see the whole issue from both sides.

My argument is around lorry drivers being best placed to appreciate the benefits of frictionless trade, voting to leave and then kicking up a fuss about the red tape. I can see the “whole issue” but this wasn’t my point, It might be the case this is a platform for better pay and terns and conditions, and I hope it is, but they should not complain about the red tape as is was blindingly obvious that the minute you leave the EU you can’t just drive over here without a care in the world. To think otherwise is, I’m sorry to say, being thick. Why do you think it will be sorted quickly? Third country rules are crystal clear, and haven’t changed in years/decades. If they were hoping the EU would change them just for the U.K. then this just backs up my statement, not to mention the arrogance involved in thinking this. It’s the same with the fisherman....man up and own your decision.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I don't particularly care about any queuing. It's dull to do, tedious, and timewasting but c'est la vie.

The issue for me is shut forecourts and people running out of petrol on the road.

It's not the queueing time per se its the carnage caused by the queues . They stopped buses going into Woodingdean because the road was so bad thus exacerbating the problem. When i got my petrol the other night at 19:00 there was a half mile queue going into Woodingdean, those drivers who did not want fuel started playing chicken with the drivers leaving Woodingdean with the interesting random driver opting to just turn around just as the overtaking drivers had just ramped up speed. At the other end of the queue were people just stopping to cross over the traffic (i.e. beat the half mile queue) and just blocking the road so that the half mile queue got longer . F*cking crazy. It had actually died down by the time I went out it and it had been like that from 09:00 in the morning .

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

What's the word used if there isn't the supply to meet this atypical excess demand?

The post I was responding to was implying there were no such problems in France or Germany. That’s because they have not had an atypical excess demand, although as has been mentioned France has certainly been through this before. We have a fuel infrastructure and it is never going to guarantee to satisfy the kind of fearful demand we see at the moment. That isn’t shortage.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I don't know, but your generalisation of calling lorry drivers 'thick' will probably come across as rude whether they voted leave or remain!

HT worked for the Remain campaign with special remit to make the case for the EU and win hearts and minds whilst doing so. He didn’t get a bonus that year.

 

[sparkie]

Agree with most of that, but for heaven's sake don't go wittering on about a £50 minimum spend. I don't think I could get fifty quidsworth into my car - and if I did, I'd have been running on fumes for the last few miles, constantly worrying whether I'll reach a petrol station or not.
I've never liked running the fuel down to the last drops - fuel guages haven't always been very accurate! -so I normally fill when the level drops a bit below quarter full, usually spending about thirty quid - give or take a bit depending on the ever fluctuating price of fuel. I don't think that's unreasonable, and will continue to do the same (and hopefully will do soon - I haven't made a dash to top up since this crisis befell us).
Didn't know about all that DCPC nonsense - successive governments (making no distinctions here) have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot - and more annoyingly, introducing legislation which is going to cost people (not them!) money!

£50 would mean some people needing to fill a couple of additional jerry cans to hold the excess volume.

 

[vegster]

Brits love a drama. Get the army to save Xmas..,

There's not enough of them left ! Mince pies to bake, Sprouts to be picked and 15 million turkeys to be slaughtered and gutted and packed and then delivered is a bit much for them all now. We only have just over 100,000 left in the Army.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Lat's have a little look at that exchange.

The idea that people keep saying of a 'minimum' £30 spend is fine in theory but that's if you've got the money spare. I know 2 people who are care workers that go into peoples homes. One today has had to get the bus to see clients & has obviously been late for people. That £5 bus fare has taken half their petrol money for the week. The other person I know has their car parked a mile away from their house as they ran out of petrol & there are no petrol stations near enough to walk to with a can. They haven't been able to work for 2 days now.
They both get paid shit money as it is and have jobs that fit in with looking after their kids. One has lost 2 days pay, the other one is spending a weeks worth of petrol on bus fares in two days. Not everyone can afford to fill up their tanks, let alone have a minimum spend of £30 imposed on them. If you don't need a full tank of petrol for the next couple of weeks, don't bloody fill it up!! Oh yeah and someone will be going into a garage with a petrol can to fill up my friends car with enough petrol to get to a station they know has fuel! If you need it for your job, then fine. If you're filling up 'just in case', then you are a part of the problem, so stop being a selfish idiot.

Cotton socks explains that he knows 2 care workers that as a result of this farce and the shit money they are on have been forced to pay even more. You're well considered response.

I understand where you are coming from but spending more on bus fares and missing days of pay is more expensive than just filling up the car.

I point out that your response could have been more understanding of the two care workers situation.

Absolutely speechless. And anybody who has spent any time on NSC will know what you've achieved

And, I'm guessing out of embarrassment, you start ranting at me about something completely unrelated about you obviously have no idea of.

Wtf are you talking about. Unlike you with your cosy lifetime of regular income I have gone through periods of no income at all. I spent a whole year working when my kids were small when I earnt nothing, zilch. You have no idea of the sacrifices I have made. I certainly don’t need a lecture in personal finances from you.

I do think an apology to Cotton socks may be in order. Me, I'm not bothered

 

[Iggle Piggle]

The posts that carry the most weight - or certainly the ones worth reading the most - in this thread are from an actual lorry driver, with actual experience and some insightful points who then gets branded "thick" by an iliberal liberal.

A microcosm of how we ended up where we are where the sneary part of the left dismiss legitimate debate in its I know best way.

 

[sparkie]

Well it seemed to be easing this morning.

Of the 5 garages that I passed this morning, 2 had no fuel but 3 had small queues of cars outside indicating fuel.

For the same garages since the crisis began it would be a wonderful, lucky day if even 1 was open on previous mornings.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Lat's have a little look at that exchange.



Cotton socks explains that he knows 2 care workers that as a result of this farce and the shit money they are on have been forced to pay even more. You're well considered response.



I point out that your response could have been more understanding of the two care workers situation.

And, I'm guessing out of embarrassment, you start ranting at me about something completely unrelated about you obviously have no idea of.



I do think an apology to Cotton socks may be in order. Me, I'm not bothered

You are an unpleasant troll and you often forget that you have logged in to the Big Board rather than the Bear Pit.