Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

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/

Working from home makes a lot of sense. Commuting gone and with it all the carbon. Productivity up, people working from home do so in a more efficient way with no interruptions from other staff. Businesses can cut overheads. Less stress and tiredness from travelling.

It is win win.

Of course there are jobs that cannot be carried out in your home, but I would have thought most office jobs could.

My daughters company being very forward thinking has decided to advertise jobs purely working from home. My daughter works entirely from home on a project partnered with someone in Argentina.

Arguing that everyone needs to get back to the office is so out of date and simply not understanding the way things are progressing. Reactionary rather than progressive.

He's had a office built so he can actually 'go to work' several days a week but without driving miles. the other days he has to go to various locations.
He works longer hours because less time is spent commuting.

GrannyGravy13

I think we have to realise that it’s not a one cap fits all situation regarding working from home.

You are right, but we don't need posters to make assumptions about people not working just because they are in a different place to the one the poster is used to, GrannyGravy. It's just rude. I imagine the diversity of work will grow and life will change yet again. As it does constantly.

My DS works from home and starts at 6.30 some mornings. Even if he has a break his phone is always beside him so he can stay in touch. Conference calls, zoom meetings etc have changed the world of work.
He's had a office built so he can actually 'go to work' several days a week but without driving miles.

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 think we have to realise that it’s not a one cap fits all situation regarding working from home.

Lucca

Urmstongran

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

My son works from home, my nephew works from home, so are they “off work”.

Honestly I’ve heard it all now.

Things are changing Urmstongran. My daughter works from home. It has always been in her contract. However, that does not mean she never goes elsewhere. Her company have certainly seen the savings in not sending people hundreds of miles, paying for them to stay overnight and then sitting in on a meeting to give their half-hour of knowledge that is needed.

My SiL has been working from home. He was not contracted to do so but has always done work at home and will now do more and his place of work will become more proficient at providing technical ways of imparting what they need to share.

I would suggest both of them have worked more productively over the pandemic and found ways to be more productive in the future.

We are no longer in the Industrial Revolution where you are chained to your place of work and measured by the hour. My son and his board are seriously thinking of offering unlimited holidays to the people that work with them.

Oh Lucca My son works from home, my nephew works from home, so are they “off work”. Honestly I’ve heard it all now.

That’s just disingenuous!

Our daughter’s partner works from home (since April last year). He’s a graphic designer. Some jobs can be done from home (natch). But the DVLA are working from home in Wales, some are on strike and licences are not being issued.

Can you spot the difference here?

Urmstongran

there was no shortage a week ago - have half the HGV drivers qualified to drive tankers quit in the last week? I seriously doubt it...

Given that fuel tanker driving is highly specialized and well paid, and a sought after job by HGV drivers, I'm not sure how bringing in 5,000 random overseas drivers will make any difference. Hoyer have only limited vacancies advertised on their web site, certainly not enough to suggest a vast gap in capacity.

This is a manufactured "crisis" by the road haulage industry who have successfully panicked the public into creating an issue. Perhaps serious questions need to be asked of the people who leaked the info, and their motives...

But there was a shortage of tanker drivers a week ago because that's why BP and Esso shut a few of their garages.

Road transport is stretched to the utmost and it doesn't take much to disrupt the system. If there were enough drivers there would be backups in place to cover unusual circumstances. But there aren't.

Remember, for want of a nail a battle was lost...

Urmstongran

Bring in the Army to help get things moving? They are excellent at logistical solutions.

Now you are an expert in logistics. Apparently the government have no plans to bring in the Army other than for HVG training purposes.

I assume, with your amazing knowledge, that you realise that there will be very few, in our much diminished Army, who've been trained to drive petrol tankers. There may be solutions, that is not the issue. The issue is that this government does not address known challenges until they are on top of them and overwhelming the public.

(Just to say that the Army are not sitting around doing nothing until the government cocks things up yet again. They do have jobs to do.)

Alegrias1

Urmstongran

This man perhaps Alegiras?

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.

Yes, definitely a crisis of understanding here....

Why do the haulage companies get away with paying poverty wages? Oh, yes, because the government lets them.

I think they should recruit people on decent pay and conditions too. What shall we do in the interim?

I can't imagine anyone is going to up sticks and move here for 3 months for the privilege of living on poverty wages. Either they pay more or the situation goes on.

Urmstongran

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

My son works from home, my nephew works from home, so are they “off work”.

Honestly I’ve heard it all now.

Hetty58 Here in London we have excellent public transport
May I ask which quadrant of London you live in? I'm assuming it's not the outer SE part since we're not that well served at all. I appreciate we are better served than rural areas, but I have encountered what I'd believed to be urban myth 'I don't go that far south of the river' response from a black taxi.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD not everything, the panic buying of fuel at the filling station in my road was a pain..

Phew. That's a relief

there was no shortage a week ago - have half the HGV drivers qualified to drive tankers quit in the last week? I seriously doubt it...

Given that fuel tanker driving is highly specialized and well paid, and a sought after job by HGV drivers, I'm not sure how bringing in 5,000 random overseas drivers will make any difference. Hoyer have only limited vacancies advertised on their web site, certainly not enough to suggest a vast gap in capacity.

This is a manufactured "crisis" by the road haulage industry who have successfully panicked the public into creating an issue. Perhaps serious questions need to be asked of the people who leaked the info, and their motives...

Alegrias1

Urmstongran

I am NOT making stuff up Alegrias. But because my reading of articles doesn’t fit in with your viewpoint I can understand why you think this is so.

Your read articles, I worked in an industry that supports the haulage industry across Europe and beyond.

Who shall people believe?

Just consulted my DP who was in Logistics all his working life. When he was a depot manager drivers had an overnight allowance, but it was never enough for a 'bed for the night' They were expected to sleep in their cabs. He thinks, though, that there were a lot more 'Truck Stops' around then with cheaper food and facilities such as showers.

I'd like to see the article Ug is citing. Is there a link?

You really are very insulting Urmstongran. Using words like a three year old isn't funny or endearing.

I really try to be fair but you make it very, very difficult.

MaizieD not everything, the panic buying of fuel at the filling station in my road was a pain..

I live mikes away from GG13 and all’s good our way. Can the glum buckets on here not accept that their are some problems relating to supply and demand (which is not helped by panic buying) in some areas. Honestly, some posters on here think the end of the world is nigh! Or at least in Brexit Britain. Oh wait .. maybe that’s the reason for their gloomy posts?
?

Bring in the Army to help get things moving? They are excellent at logistical solutions.

MaizieD what are you insinuating?

Would you rather I lie? I know I am fortunate inasmuch as so far we are relatively unaffected by food shortages and waste collections.

Not insinuating anything, and certainly not saying that you're lying. It's just that it always seems that in GG13 world there is never anything amiss. Not just now, but in the past, too.

And, to Alegrias, I don't think the country is in meltdown, just slow decline.

Urmstongran

This man perhaps Alegiras?

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.

Yes, definitely a crisis of understanding here....

Why do the haulage companies get away with paying poverty wages? Oh, yes, because the government lets them.

I think they should recruit people on decent pay and conditions too. What shall we do in the interim?

Urmstongran

If DVLA staff are unable to issue licences from home then they are unable to do their job from home.

It’s high time the government stopped calling this working from home and told the truth. It’s called being off work.

Yes, in a wy ay it makes sense. Do you think it will help solve the petrol shortage crisis, to force people to drive to work?

Perhaps.

But even so, it would take months, not days or weeks. So for everyone who says this is just a blip, and all will be back to normal as soon as people stop panic buying- I think it is time for some reality to creep back in.

This man perhaps Alegiras?

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.