Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

All this has been caused by media hype and panic buying there are the same amount of tanker drivers as there were last week
Correct me if I am wrong but normal HGV drivers cannot drive a tanker they have to have a ADR license as well so it’s a specialist job

Letters to people holding HGV licences are to be sent to encourage them back into driving.

I thought that was quite amusing. I wonder if my DD will get one. She had to take an HGV test in order to be able to drive our horsebox. There will be lots of under 40s who are in her position. I can't see any of them yearning to become knights if the road ?

Meanwhile our domestic fuel prices are rocketing - oh well the petrol problem has taken the focus off the astronomical domestic fuel rise.

But in the long term this is going to affect the country much more.

I also fervently hope that the government is assuring supplies of medicines to the pharmacists.

All the above were warned by our civil service to be major issues post Brexit.

They sent out this warning in 2018.

Nothing was done to mitigate these crises.

Suspending competition rules, which will allow delivery lorries of any company to deliver fuel to areas where there is the biggest need.

2/3rds of retailers are now out of fuel.

Competition law has already been relaxed between retailers in order to maintain food supplies.

Letters to people holding HGV licences are to be sent to encourage them back into driving.

Blimey all smacks of desperation and a government chasing its tail.

I have been out and about in Glasgow today and didn’t notice any queues. Is this an English thing?

A lot of ambulances do not have a dedicated fuel supply, they get petrol from the same places as you and me. If ambulances are off the road because of empty fuel tanks I do hope people will understand it was totally justified because someone needed a full tank in order to go to work, or shop, or have their vehicle sit with a full tank of petrol....... one ambulance crew posted yesterday (with photos) of how they had to go to 5 petrol stations before they could refuel.

It's not only those who need petrol who are filling up. My neighbour has filled up all three of his cars. He and his wife are retired and only use a car a couple of times a week for local trips. He told me so himself, with as much glee as the lady down the road who showed me her garage half full of toilet rolls when the panic buying started. She still has no idea why she bought them and spent all that money, other than everyone else was buying them, and she had to get rid of them later when the mice moved in and tore them to shreds to build nests.

Well as all the sensible ones who need to get to work tomorrow won't be queueing at petrol stations, having filled their tanks to overflowing this weekend, the rest of us won't encounter any queues and will fill up our empty tanks

Perhaps more people should use public transport. It would be far better for the environment.

Great idea, if your area has any!

It wasn't the "brain dead" who needed to buy fuel. It was the sensible ones who need to get to work.

Maybe the government should stop treating the public as though they're brain dead, when it was perfectly obvious to those of us with more than half a functioning brain cell what was going on and it wasn't difficult to realise that we were being lied to.

Exactly, and I have no idea how people can state that it will all be back to normal in days. How?

MamaCaz

Media hype might have aggravated this, but there were signs of problems over a week before this hit the news!

As I have said elsewhere, OH and I became aware that there was a potential problem well before it hit the news.

We were on holiday in a diesel vehicle, and kept passing filling stations that had no diesel (or only had Premium).
And having just checked put two of the filling stations in question, I am fairly sure that one was Esso, not BP. It wasn't just one day - it had no ordinary diesel for at least 5 days.

It's OK saying that there is no fuel shortage, but if the product you need isn't reaching the places where you need to purchase it, there really is no difference between a shortage and a supply issue!

Panic has not caused this problem - it is just a totally predictable result of it.

The problem did lie without Esso and BP, shortage of drivers not fuel.. Of course the brain dead start panic buying due to the media hype, and a possible leak from private meeting,
usa366.com/hgv-boss-accused-of-triggering-petrol-pump-crisis-ministers-point-the-finger-at-ex-bbc-man/

Same for shops and all public venues.

Masks should be compulsory on public transport, end of - and sanitising of hands too- this is the case in most if not all EU countries.

I did start to use public transport a lot pre covid but I’m not prepared to sit on a bus wearing my mask when most of the other people don’t do so.

Currently we have enough diesel for the time being. I use the car as little as possible as we are fortunate to live close by to bus routes. Shops are within easy walking distance for me but DH has some mobility difficulties.

I’m happy that some petrol/diesel garages have put on a maximum spend. In the absence of any reasonable government action this seems rather sensible. Exceptions should be made for key/essential workers such as doctors, nurses, care workers etc. and emergency services, not forgetting those who live in rural areas who need a car for shopping.

Perhaps more people should use public transport. It would be far better for the environment.

For us this has coincided with our adult son having had five hour heart surgery a week ago. He is doing well, thank god, but is being allowed home on a day to day basis from Saturday, as long as he comes back overnight for his blood tests etc. He is desperate to see his tiny daughter aged two, who is missing her daddy so much. This has meant us (very willingly and thankfully) ferrying him back and forth twice a day to the hospital, thus needing extra petrol. I have to get to work tomorrow and also have an urgent hospital appointment for myself, but luckily can get the bus so will leave the car at home.

No panic buying for us at the moment as we filled up last week, but I can understand why people might have to.

How can the army help if very few of them (according to GG13 a few pages ago)are qualified to drive tankers with hazardous loads?

I expect the situation will ease over the next few days anyway, as the idiots must be full to saturation point by now.

Ironically, I went to my local garage, no diesel but plenty of petrol, to put enough in my tank to get it to half full (not wanting to take fuel I didn't need) only to be told it was closing today for 10 days for a refurb... I'm now wondering if that will spook the locals and set them all off again ?

MamaCaz

lemongrove

LincsLass well done for your post above, but really I think several of us have given up on putting the real case about petrol as some posters want to run with any scenario but the true one.

So you don't believe that there was already a problem before the media reported it?

Do you think I have lied about the fuel supply problems we noticed well over a week earlier?

Over a week earlier there were no problems in my area, at all. BP closed 20 filling stations, in the whole of the country. No need for panic buying, this was exacerbated by the media.

The Times is reporting that Johnson is going to take a leaf out of the Blair government and send in the army to tackle the fuel crises. He appears to be resigned to the fact that the temporary visas will not cut it.

Well done to those of you who've delayed filling up. Those who really need their cars for work - or to get there - have a better chance thanks to you.

All I seem to be hearing, though, from people around here (who don't even need their cars) is 'I filled up/topped up, just in case it gets worse' in a proud/smug tone of voice - what complete idiots!

we haven't filled up either

The government has been told by the RHA that the temporary visas are not good enough to solve the problem.

The petrol retailers association has said that between 50% and 90% of retailers say that their forecourts are running dry.

There is plenty of fuel but useless to the motorists in the refineries

BBC

Gosh it doesn’t seem to be improving in the short term. We have held off from buying petrol in the expectation that the government would quickly sort it just as the Blair government had done, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. We have a little less than a quarter of a tank so cannot spare any to go out searching for fuel. Bugger.

I heard Grant Schnapps (I'm sorry I don't know how his name is spelt) on the radio saying it wasn't the governments problem that people wanted immediate access to buying petrol if they needed it

If there wasn't a shortage then, there would be once the MSM have reported on it. Let's face it, a news programme showing queues of vehicles waiting for petrol is a lot more newsworthy that one or two cars getting served as normal. News programmes are as bad as the Government for fear mongering.