Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

Will Hutton

Northern Ireland is free from petrol shortages. But 90% of UK mainland petrol stations out of fuel. Rarely in economics is there a controlled experiment- this is it. Johnson’s Brexit = a fuel crisis non-existent elsewhere in Europe, including Northern Ireland. Only we suffer.

I agree Kali and it's absolutely the kind of issue which the government has had five years to plan. There needs to more accessible training with government grants, better roadside facilities, a pension/insurance scheme.

www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/government-hgv-visa-plan-sticking-5976766

This is just not just a temporary 'blip' caused by selfish individual behaviour, although this does not help!

It is absolutely essential and urgent that some system is put into place to ensure key workers are prioritised asap.

But this is the reality

East Midlands Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles slams Government response to HGV driver shortage. It has been known for quite some time, irrespective of Brexit or Covid (and the disastrous combo) that the UK has a massive shortage of HGV drivers, for all sorts of reasons.

My reply was to ug as well tbh.

GrannyGravy13

I am all for working from home where it is suitable for both employers and employees.

I am not for people being coerced into trying to work from home in inadequate circumstances which then impacts on family life and the mental health of the employees.

I absolutely agree. It doesn’t work for everyone but I didn’t like how Urmstingran said people weren’t working from home they were “off work”.

A bit like when she said the Labour Party hate Britain …..

It depends what time of day you are out. Morning here and along route = fine
Mid afternoon = running out/closed garages/queues/chaos
Not sure what it is like now as I am not planning on going out again

Local facebook just argues with itself

We are away on a little holiday at the moment, and noted that there were two closed garages on the journey, the others were all working and with no more than three cars waiting for fuel at any pump.It really does depend where you are....that doesn’t mean there are no queues elsewhere.The journey was non motorway ( I think motorways have no problems.)

yes mates without HGV drivers

MamaCaz

Sarnia

Boris needs to forget about temporary visas and just get the Army in. No one being exploited then or companies feathering their own nests.

We are, according to the Road Haulage Association, short of 100,000 HGV drivers.

The total size of the full-time UK armed forces (trained and untrained) is only around 159,000.

Their help has already been widely used since the pandemic began, for instance, with the roll-out of the vaccination programme, and amongst other things, they are now supporting ambulance services but in reality, I doubt enough of them could be spared from genuine defence-related duties to come close to making up the shortfall across all the important services that are now failing through driver / staffing shortages.

I doubt if the army has 100,000 drivers with further ADR training.

I agree with you MamaCaz.

I wonder if the government is giving contracts to their mates to deliver petrol. Another opportunity to line their pockets.

Kali2

A long article here that does give a real picture of what is going on. Of course this is not new, but it was hidden from view for al sorts of reasons. The Financial Sector, the Haulage and Petrol industry, AND THE GOVERNEMENT knew about it all a long time ago, but chose to ignore. And it won't go away in a matter of days and weeks either.

unravellingtheratsnest.org/politics/petrol-can-we-get-the-army-in-to-drive-tankers-and-essar-whats-it-all-about/

Thank you for posting that link Kali.

I picked up the news about Essar a few days ago and have been following it where I can. It's a concern, but the media can't be accused of sensationalising it - maybe they should be highlighting more what's been happening with some of our vital infrastructure. Stanlow/Essar is important (too big to fail?) but so was the steel industry and that was left to fail.

PS. The article nails on the head the current situation with HGV drivers.

GrannyGravy13

I am all for working from home where it is suitable for both employers and employees.

I am not for people being coerced into trying to work from home in inadequate circumstances which then impacts on family life and the mental health of the employees.

I agree absolutely, but my point is that the balance is definitely changing with more people working at home where possible.

To force people back where it isn’t necessary doesn’t make sense.

GrannyGravy
It took my friend 6 weeks to get her own office chair ( from her own office in the council building) by which time she was in agony.
We offered to get it for her but: computer says NO!!!
It had to be a council worker removing the chair.
So they had a senior housing officer who couldn’t do her job properly for 6 weeks and longer because of jobsworth.

GrannyGravy13

I am all for working from home where it is suitable for both employers and employees.

I am not for people being coerced into trying to work from home in inadequate circumstances which then impacts on family life and the mental health of the employees.

Good points, GrannyGravy
It can be more productive and suitable in some instances but not always the right option.

Well said GrannyGravy13 !!
Working from home must be dreadfully hard for those who do not have the space and amenities. The employer should be checking their home situation and if not suitable they should come to work. It is not right to expect people to struggle. At one time (at the office) they were checking our desks, chairs and screens were all set up correctly to avoid medical problems for staff. No chance of that for people working on sofas and coffee tables. This should be stopped asap.

As we are mentioning housing, it will be far harder for those that rent to add office space too unless they rent off HA/council or other sustainable estates

Agreed, good posts GG13.

I am all for working from home where it is suitable for both employers and employees.

I am not for people being coerced into trying to work from home in inadequate circumstances which then impacts on family life and the mental health of the employees.

Whitewavemark2

Going back to working at home, I would have thought that a good business would be prepared to provide the necessary set up for its staff at home. What wouldnt it? It makes total economic sense.

How do you do that for people in a one bedroom flat, or a two bedroom flat with children.

Working from home will suit those with a home which is big enough to have a dedicated adapted office space

This could make jobs totally out of reach of some people due to their living conditions, something I think most of us if not all find objectionable and wrong.

The last thing the U.K. needs at the moment is more marginalisation of people/workforce.

Going back to working at home, I would have thought that a good business would be prepared to provide the necessary set up for its staff at home. What wouldnt it? It makes total economic sense.

One very alarming piece of news that I saw on the bbc was that there seems to be a two tier system developing as far as the nhs is concerned. In poor areas the wait is much much longer for appointments etc and of course we know that health outcomes are much worse if you are poor. In wealthy areas the waiting lists are much much lower.

More people are as a result resorting to loans or if they are able cloud funding for treatment because of the wait.

Privatisation by the back door.

Yes I see that point gg13

Both my children are lucky enough to have dedicated offices, with super-dooper chairs, desks, computers etc etc. In fact my daughter seems to have two going at the same time.

But there is no doubt that businesses particularly global companies are changing the way their employees work. My DDs job is working from home - no option at all. She was actually headhunted by their head office and the job was hers if she was willing to work from home.

Son and DIL both work from home in separate offices - they have a large house and they originally tried to work together but it drove them mad. They both work for the same company.

So I don’t see things ever going back completely as it was previously and a jolly good thing too.

It’s all well and good for people to work from home, but they do need an office, peace and quiet along with an appropriate chair and desk, secure/strong enough WiFi and a computer, printer, scanner etc.

I do know some folks who have been working in their bedrooms, juggling laptop and paper on their beds, also people trying to work in their sitting rooms on coffee tables and at their kitchen worktops.

Not everyone lives in a large enough home and is able to or can afford to have a dedicated home office. People living in small flats with children, people still living at home with their parents, etc will not have the same facilities.

God, they are queuing again here and causing absolute chaos as it's all over spilling onto the main A roads

My husband also has built and office and works from home but I think he is finding it more stressful as people wont leave him alone and want him immediately all the time.