Do you think he should resign..........

Why are people always described as 'panic buying' when all they are doing is making sure they have a sufficient supply of a product ahead of a shortage.

If that is 'panic buying' then, for example, buying fruit and veg cheaply when in glut in order to bottle, jam or freeze them for use later when they are more expensive is also panic buying.

Having said that, I do think that there was panic buying this time because while the tanker drivers had voted for a strike the earliest date publicised for a possible strike had been 'over Easter', which was, when the panic started, over 10 days away.

Mr Maude could, of course have been being deliberately devious in what he did. By causing the panic this week he has put the tanker drivers and their union on the back foot by making people experience in advance what it will be like if there is a strike - and its working, the unions have already withdrawn their threat to strike over Easter.

According to TV this morning an older woman had been challenged by the AA as she was filling paint tins and jam jars with petrol at a garage!

What has happened to common sense in this country?

What message does it send to the oil producing countries, when at the merest hint of a strike, most of the population run about like headless chickens?

Well said Gally - people need to take responsibility for their own actions. Far too much nannying in latter years - it reminds me of the court cases (American?) about a cat dying in a washing machine or microwave or some such because it did not say 'not suitable for cats' on the instructions. Such nonsense!

I fear this woman's accident is a red herring - the question is whether a senior government minister should have encouraged people in this way.
I am prepared to accept the verdict of the fire services as I think they probably understand the dangers better than we do.

Apparently the family of the woman is laying the blame squarely at the government's door.
Did anyone from the government tell people to decant petrol in their kitchens while cooking with a naked flame?
Perhaps the fire service should be doing more to inform the general public of the dangers and possible consequences of such irresponsible actions, as obviously it never occurred to the poor lady in question, although I can't understand why not.

I don't think there was anything wrong with advising people to get in an extra few litres when it looked like they might strike over the Easter break.

Petrol in a jerry can is safe enough, so long as it is outside and nowhere near naked flames.

People must realise that is why they close off garage forecourts when the tanker is there. And why there are signs saying 'no naked flames' etc.

If he is forced to resign then he should take the whole lot with him - and I never thought I'd say that about a Conservative Government. And that woman should have had more sense though I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Of course the media don't help either because some people believe everything they read and the effects spread like the contents of a broken milk bottle. Whatabunch of..........