Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

I have just got back from picking up my DD's dog at South Mimms services. The whole area is totally blocked by people queuing to buy petrol despite the numerous signs on the M1 and M25 saying there is no petrol there!
It took us 30 minutes to get in and park and 30 minutes just to get out again as they selfishly queue nose to tail so you can't get through.

Further up the M1 at Watford Gap I managed to get petrol without queuing. It seems it is different everywhere but unfortunately you cannot rely on getting petrol.

HurdyGurdy Hadn't you worked out by now that it's always "others" who are to blame?

PS. I was one of those who genuinely needed petrol. I was seriously worried I would run out while I drove around looking for some petrol.

The point is that blaming the media or those folk queueing is taking the focus away from the real problem, which is a government who has in some cases for years been warned of impending and serious problems which they have consistently failed to address until the crises is chaotic.

It's panic buying! Yes, people need petrol to get about but they don't need or usually have a full tank. We have plenty of fuel, deliveries were just slower which had we behaved as we normally do, very few people would have been affected. \No doubt many will blame Brexit, which may be part of the problem, but we haven't been able to train HGV drivers for quite a while due to Covid so the situation is exacerbated.

Alegrias1

AA. Petrol companies. Petrol station owners.

I do not blindly agree with the government. I rarely agree with the government. I believe them on this because it is patently the truth.

Some folk just need to use a bit of common sense.

Which you obviously believe you are showing and others are not Alegrais

Whitewavemark2

tanith

All the garages near me have queuing ? what is wrong with people ?

Nothing wrong with people.

When you have a liar for PM who comes into television and announces no need to panic - what is your immediate reaction?

Panic!

growstuff

GrannyGravy The fact that my two nearest petrol stations have not had fuel for the last two days is not driven by sensational reporting or greedy individuals. It's driven by not having any petrol delivered! That's put pressure on the petrol stations which do have fuel, so of course they've run out more quickly.

If people are topping up their almost-full tanks of petrol, alongside those who are just refuelling as their normal routine, then the topper-uppers are draining the supply at each petrol station.

This in turn means that when the tankers are out delivering, rather than being able to service several sites (I have no idea how many sites a tanker would normally deliver to, each run), they are having to return to refill the tanker more often, meaning that those petrol stations further into their route, need to wait.

And while they are waiting, the "top up just in case" mob are further depleting the supplies of the other petrol stations, further exacerbating the problem.

Honestly, if people would just calm down and stop over-reacting, the situation could return to normal.

(Meanwhile, my husband is strutting around like Smuggy McSmugface of Smugshire, with his electric car .)

Which you obviously believe you are showing and others are not Alegrais

You might think so but I couldn't possibly comment.

Media hype, without media reporting it constantly before there was a problem, they have created one. Will be the same with food soon…

Willow68

Media hype, without media reporting it constantly before there was a problem, they have created one. Will be the same with food soon…

There was a problem before the media reported it and so on.

The problem is this governments failure to foresee issues, or act on what they are constantly being told by business

Without this initial failure on the governments part * there would be no problem*

I think that there is little doubt that the continual crises is as a result of poor strategic planning by the government. All Johnson is doing is reacting and being buffered this way and that, piffling and whiffling his excuses blaming everything but the governments shortcomings.

I can’t see things getting better tbh

Whitewavemark2

I think that there is little doubt that the continual crises is as a result of poor strategic planning by the government. All Johnson is doing is reacting and being buffered this way and that, piffling and whiffling his excuses blaming everything but the governments shortcomings.

I can’t see things getting better tbh

Of course the state of this nation is the government's fault, I agree,

But the media pretending there is a national fuel shortage when there isn't, doesn't exactly help matters.

Alegrias1

Whitewavemark2

I think that there is little doubt that the continual crises is as a result of poor strategic planning by the government. All Johnson is doing is reacting and being buffered this way and that, piffling and whiffling his excuses blaming everything but the governments shortcomings.

I can’t see things getting better tbh

Of course the state of this nation is the government's fault, I agree,

But the media pretending there is a national fuel shortage when there isn't, doesn't exactly help matters.

Agree but they would be having the conversation if we had a government that did it’s job.

''There are now very real concerns as the supply chain crisis ripples out across a huge range of industry.
No bodys talking about it because its so sensitive but there are now concerns about getting chemicals to purify our drinking water to the purifying plants. It hasn't happened yet but the fact its a possibility is focusing ministers minds.''

PippaZ

Alegrias1

AA. Petrol companies. Petrol station owners.

I do not blindly agree with the government. I rarely agree with the government. I believe them on this because it is patently the truth.

Some folk just need to use a bit of common sense.

Which you obviously believe you are showing and others are not Alegrais

The problem is people are actually using what is called "common sense". When people talk about "common sense", often what they are referring to is a judgment based on experience alone. Their experience is that what comes out of the mouths of the government in the first, and often the second and third, iteration is a cover for their lack of planning rather than the truth.

"Common sense" is what you do not want as you have said you are wanting people to draw on sufficient information to draw a reliable conclusion.

Agree but they would be having the conversation if we had a government that did it’s job.

They're making stuff up to frighten people.

Yes but if there was no driver shortage and such severe problems with delivery, if the media announce that garages are closing because they’ve run out of petrol they would look rather foolish don’t you think. I know a lot of the population is sheeplike but not quite so stupid surely.

If people are topping up their almost-full tanks of petrol, alongside those who are just refuelling as their normal routine, then the topper-uppers are draining the supply at each petrol station.

No! My nearest two petrol stations haven't had any supply to be drained. How difficult is that to understand?

icanhandthemback

It's panic buying! Yes, people need petrol to get about but they don't need or usually have a full tank. We have plenty of fuel, deliveries were just slower which had we behaved as we normally do, very few people would have been affected. \No doubt many will blame Brexit, which may be part of the problem, but we haven't been able to train HGV drivers for quite a while due to Covid so the situation is exacerbated.

No! Deliveries at some petrol stations haven't just been slower! They've been non-existent.

I remember the last time this happened - there were people filling cans and keeping them at home (!!) and footage of people squirting the last drop into their cars, slopping petrol down the side in their efforts to get as much as they could. Our town was gridlocked yesterday, and both Sainsbury's and Tesco shut their petrol stations, not because they were out of fuel but because the queues were making it impossible for people to get into the car park to shop, and ugly scenes were happening.

Whitewavemark2

Yes but if there was no driver shortage and such severe problems with delivery, if the media announce that garages are closing because they’ve run out of petrol they would look rather foolish don’t you think. I know a lot of the population is sheeplike but not quite so stupid surely.

There are not severe problems with fuel delivery.

I do wonder about the sheep thing, to be honest.

Garages closed temporarily because there were interruptions to the supply. They'll be closed a lot longer now that all of the stations are being drained of fuel.

I don't know how often this needs to be said. So just carry on, exaggerate away to your heart's content. And when things settle down, I'll go out and buy petrol.

kali I’d like to pick up your point about the JiT system. Yes I think that is absolutely correct.

The real issue with this system is that it does not allow for any meaningful stock storage, so a breakdown in the JiT of which we will begin to see many will almost immediately cause a crises, just as we are seeing with the huge chilled food supplier going into liquidation today.

Where I live there is a petrol station in the High Street and traffic was at a standstill for most of the day as people were queuing for petrol. It's apparently the same at other garages.

The knock on effects are that the local shops (with many small traders) lost trade on the busiest day of the week and buses are unable to run either.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58689531

Guess they're all lying, eh?

Ooh look, here's another one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58678131

When the RHA, the AA and the Scottish Government say the same as the UK government, you have to be quite hard pushed to think its a conspiracy.