Bad tempered people and petrol queues.

The press doesn't do moderate. It looks for the worst and most dramatic scenario to frighten the pants off us and , sadly, it regularly succeeds. I was driving my usual route into town yesterday and made a point of investigating the four stations I regularly pass. Not a queue or closure anywhere but steady activity. Thank goodness for some sanity here up north.

I filled up last Wednesday as part of my normal routine - guage was in the red and I was planning to drive 200 miles at the weekend. On the way home I heard about the shortage at BP stations on the radio but thought little of it. The Asda forecourt I'd used was filled up immediately after I left - they put the cones across behind me - so I had no worries at all especially as normally I drive very little these days.
The weekend trip was to celebrate my ex MiL's 90th birthday and my DGS's 1st birthday. In the end 2 of the intended guests didn't come because of worries about getting fuel - very sad.

I feel a mixture of relief that I filled up when I did - the next day the queues at Asda prevented people getting in to do grocery shopping - and guilt that even after the long drive I still have about 3/4 of a tank that will last me at least the next month, possibly longer. I didn't panic buy but still feel bad for those suffering and sorry for the relatives who missed a special event. Why can't everyone simply consider others. Such a sad state of affairs!

Yes- the whole scenario reminds me of Dads Army ??

One of our local garage managers has just been interviewed and asked why none of his seven sites has had to close or has seen any of the disgraceful scenes reported elsewhere. He said that as soon as the news of possible shortages broke on Thursday he brought in extra employees so that there were two people directing traffic and speaking to drivers at each garage. They'd received their normal deliveries of fuel last Wednesday, an amount which would usually last a week. The majority of this went within two days, despite a spending cap being imposed, but he had no trouble getting extra deliveries on Friday. And his usual Wednesday deliveries have arrived today. In the interview he stated that there are as many tanker drivers now as there were pre-pandemic.

He worked on one of the forecourts himself, reassuring people that there was no need to panic. The only customers allowed to fill jerry cans were those who had broken down within walking distance of the garage.

A bit of good management and common sense goes an awful long way.

The worst thing not think

I think if there is going to be a shortage of anything, that no one should let the media or the public know. The latest is a possible shortage of turkeys, what’s the betting there will be a queue for them in the next couple of weeks. The worst think the media do is to say “no need to panic buy” which has the immediate effect of panic buying. Keep it quiet then everyone has a chance to get something.

I rather blame the managers of road haulage industry for not making good enough plans for the expected shortfall in HGV drivers after Brexit. Were they asleep? There has been plenty of time to train and employ new drivers. The government doesn’t run everything- nor should it!

Well if you think they're all bad . . .

We joined a long queue yesterday at a Sainsbury’s garage after the tanker had gone the staff had it all under control and fed us into the pumps as and when there was gaps. There was an NHS worker who wanted to go to the front of the queue but the garage staff politely told him to wait his turn and follow the car in front which he did. As for the lady on television with several fuel cans she was a community care manager getting fuel to top up members of her team who were making home visits to patients. The government are totally incompetent and try to avoid issues until they become a major crisis like they did with Covid waiting until people were falling like flies before having a lockdown and no PPE also they were told about the shortage of HGV drivers long ago. At the next election I will vote Labour they can’t be any worse than this lot.

But we’ve been told for months there will be shortages in shops and delays due to staff shortages in many sectors and lo and behold when this started hitting petrol stations people showed their lack of faith in this government with its numerous lies and u turns and headed to fill up. Perhaps those who like to believe the staff shortages in so many sectors had nothing to do with Brexit would like to explain why there are no petrol queues in Northern Ireland or in France and Germany.

Sarnia I saw that video too. We searched, using the name of the fuel provider on the pump. It was an idiot woman in the USA. So, fuel idiots everywhere!

Thanks NotSpaghettit, I really didn't know!

Until the possibility of a fuel shortage was splashed across the headlines there was no problem filling up. There was no shortage of ADR qualified HGV drivers snd everywhere had fuel.

Jaylucy it is illegal and dangerous to fill up containers that are not made to contain petrol as some will disintegrate from the chemicals and by law they have to marked as containing petrol. Filling stations should not be authorising pumps to anyone not using correct containers and filling up too many as there is also a limit on how much petrol you can "store". Might be a thoughtful thing to do but not much use if she goes up in flames or dies from poisoning when the containers leak (fuel containers have special seals) in her vehicle. I have bought half a tank this week from a well organised petrol station and that will have to do until this nonsense is over. If I can I will walk to appointments or cancel to preserve fuel for necessary journeys. Our local supermarkets are still getting daily deliveries as they always have done its just numpties panicking and causing hysteria like they did with the toilet rolls. According to hgv driver sources there are no fewer registered tanker drivers now than there were a month/2 months ago but because a couple of forecourts closed due to their supply issues the media picked it up and off went the idiots to cause a shortage by overbuying. This is why I prefer animals, humans are their own worst enemies ?

JaneJudge I don’t think the Halfords can you link to is legal in a car. I think it’s supposed to have the diamond on it, signifying the type of danger. Obviously from the photos you can’t see the back.

I know the lorry driver mentioned by someone above is obviously wrong. You aren’t allowed to cary “excess” petrol but that’s up to the police to determine as they are asked to consider if it’s a "hazardous" or "a dangerous load."
2 cans are generally accepted as Ok if they meet the labelling requirements.

There are storage requirements to meet at home too.

Well, I am glad everything is hunky dory for you Zoetory, but it isn't for everyone. I agree that we shouldn't be getting citizens from poorer nations to do our dirty work, but I am not sure that my Dutch vet would agree with your description. The abuse of people from poorer nations lies with exploitative employers and the public with our expectations of cheap food and goods, and this is certainly not a reason to vote to leave the EU which has more stringent employment laws than the UK is heading for.

Society has certainly degenerated. It's dog eat dog in this so called wealthy western democracy and unfortunately there's no sign of any improvement. Nobody seems to be able to own their mistakes (Brexit voters do you hear me?), and nobody seems to be able to avoid attributing negative motives to people queuing up to put fuel in their cars. As a psychotherapist (old enough to be self-isolating during the pandemic) I also volunteer for the NHS Check in and Chat and on Saturday morning I had no fewer than three calls to respond to, each one coming from a distressed elderly and disabled person who would be housebound without a car. Two of these people had been out with hubbies to do shopping and been unable to get into their supermarkets because of queues at the petrol pumps that were blocking the supermarket entrances, so here was one unwanted side effect of the queueing behaviour. The other 80 year old lady was crying because she needed petrol and couldn't drive around or queue because of sitting and bladder problems. I then saw a facebook photo posted by an irate person observing a young able-bodied man filling up ten petrol cans. He received much abuse. That man later responded with a photo of the care agency where he works, pointing out that his carers needed petrol to reach old and disabled people in the community who would otherwise lie in bed all day in their own urine and faeces and go without food - death probably a few days later - we are all so quick to judge on appearances and should stop to remind ourselves of how damaging that is to others but also to ourselves in generating levels of stress that will kill us in the end. Actually, there's only one person to blame for the possibility that our elderly may sit all day in wet beds and go hungry if carers can't get to them and that's our very privileged and thoughtless PM who told the country Brexit would be wonderful. Definitely Brexit own goal, and definitely to any Brexit voters moaning about petrol queues, well done mates - hope you can really look at the facts in front of your eyes and change your misguided narratives.

Those that voted Tory and Brexit can look around and I am so sure they feel proud of the absolute mess they helped make. I feel so bad for the younger lot...its not fair

WE're not in a mess. The media tells me I'm in a mess but I'm fine, thanks

Many of the younger lot voted for Brexit. I was working in the CS with quite a few You'd be surprised how many wanted Brexit . They felt it wrong that we kept getting citizens from poorer nations to do our dirty work

Time iot invest and get the younger generation to realise that driving lorries isn't beneath them

During the tanker drivers’ strike in 2000 we had letters from the head man to say we were key workers and we had to drive to the one garage in the area with fuel but providing it for key workers only. The system was put into place very early on and worked well. I can’t understand why something similar couldn’t have been set up within 24 hours. Or would it not have worked in 2021 with so many entitled people egged on by the media/social media.

Those 5 stations must have been in my borough and the adjoining one

This is what we did. "Go away Johnny foreigners, oh, but if you could come back for a few weeks to make sure we can have Christmas despite how we have treated you, then bugger orf again on Christmas Eve, that would be swell!"

Those that voted Tory and Brexit can look around and I am so sure they feel proud of the absolute mess they helped make. I feel so bad for the younger lot...its not fair. x

Can people stop saying its nothing to do with Brexit?

Most of us are competent enough to understand that there are several reasons for the fuel crisis and that Brexit makes it worse.

Pretending otherwise is disingenuous and lets the Brexiters off the hook.

Many years ago while on holiday in Kenya we were told about a fuel tanker over turning on a forecourt at a fuel station. Hundreds of people, apparently, surged forward with unsuitable containers to get what they could for free.
The tanker blew up instantly incinerating those people trying to get fuel.
According to the person who told us this story it was not an uncommon event.
Is it not against the law to fill up an unsuitable container with fuel? As someone said to me recently “the trouble with common sense is it’s not very common”.

Sarnia

My son-in-law has a short video on his phone from someone filming a lady trying to tie up the handles of a carrier bag two-thirds full of petrol. Sadly the video stops before it shows her attempting to lift it. I would have liked to have seen her attempting that.

I saw that video. Someone then commented that it was in the US, not here.
Not that that makes it ok

I wish people would quit with the Brexit rubbish. It’s nothing to do with Brexit, there is a Europe wide shortage of drivers and added to that quite a lot went home during Covid. There is a problem with drivers conditions and covid stopping tests for new HGV tests people need to get a grip, the shortage is because someone leaked that BP had to shut 5 forecourts - yes just 5 in the whole of the UK - so everyone went and filled up. It’ll all settle down and there is a limit to how many times you can fill your tank if you’re not using it and people need to stop ‘topping up’ and leaving it to those who are really on empty! No need for abuse is there, everyone is entitled to it!