Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

We live near a very busy A road that joins a motorway. The local BP garage is always quite busy, but at 8 am this morning the queue was almost to the motorway - that's nearly a quarter of a mile! The busy road was reduced to single file, causing tailbacks in both directions. What idiots. I suspect the police shut the garage down to clear the tailbacks after we passed. And to cap it all, stuck in the middle of the tailback was a BP tanker, possibly trying to refuel the garage. There were the same queues at every garage we passed.

Please don't anyone try to tell me that all these people were almost empty and desperate for fuel - I live near the BP garage and I know what's it like most days. There are sometimes two or three cars queueing on the forecourt but never more than that. And yes, I know as well as anyone that some people really need to have fuel for the week ahead; my nephew is a taxi driver and can't work without it.

My respect for the great British public has reached an all time low - people really need to get a grip.

What about the health care and supermarket workers on minimum wage who can’t afford £25 of fuel at the moment? There are a lot of people who scrape together petrol money on a weekly basis. I used to be one of them.

Greedy

however, a friend of mine who works in a supermarket petrol station said that most of the sales were just for £10. That is panicking.

MaizieD

I also appreciate what the garage owner said in her tweet, but an unexpected closure of a petrol station is bound to be picked up as 'news', even if only, initially, by a local reporter. That is their job, to find stories, and what is behind the stories.

Or would you all like the press to be completely silenced?

I don't expect the press to be silenced but I expect them to act responsibly and not tell lies or scaremonger for the sake of a story. The latest headlines are there purely to induce panic and make people worried. Panic at the pumps; transport chaos spreads; we're running on empty.

Comment from the AA President: It is now clear that there have been occasional delays over recent weeks that have been managed with hardly anyone noticing. This was a manageable problem. ... until the press got hold of it.

HannahLoisLuke

Whitewavemark2

What it all boils down to is abysmal leadership.

Are you saying that people haven’t got the brains or consideration to think for themselves. Why is the government always to blame? Or at least the government that you don’t agree with.

No because that is exactly what people are doing.

The road hauliers first started telling this government that a severe driver shortage was going to happen 5 years ago, after the referendum.

The ideologues in the government simply will not listen - other businesses are having the same issue, and nothing is done until a crises occurs.

Why is the government to blame?
Because it is any governments job to ensure that sufficient fuel is delivered to keep the country running.

As I said a toddler could have predicted chaos with the end of furlough, return to work and school etc. If the driver shortage was not addressed.

Whitewavemark2

What it all boils down to is abysmal leadership.

Are you saying that people haven’t got the brains or consideration to think for themselves. Why is the government always to blame? Or at least the government that you don’t agree with.

Smileless2012

I hope they don't allow anyone to fill up jerry cans.

They have been. As I’ve said earlier I saw some people doing just that yesterday and not just one can either, three or four! Now I’ve heard that the petrol stations are going to restrict everybody to £30 worth. Hopefully that might help.

I also appreciate what the garage owner said in her tweet, but an unexpected closure of a petrol station is bound to be picked up as 'news', even if only, initially, by a local reporter. That is their job, to find stories, and what is behind the stories.

Or would you all like the press to be completely silenced?

When this lying government says "Don't panic", naturally a lot of people panic.

felice

Perhaps if the news channels were not splashing it on TV people would not be panic buying. Just saying.

You’re right,the media always stoke things up. My tank was showing empty yesterday so I went to get fuel and joined the queue at the local Tesco. There were people at the pumps filling their cars and three or four cans! Such greed. No wonder the petrol stations are running out. It’s nothing to do with supplies, or deliveries, there’s plenty if both according to a tanker driver I spoke to. It purely greedy people grabbing everything they can and Sid anybody else.
BTW I did get some petrol but just put my usual £20 worth in which should last about four weeks. Very small cheap to run car.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD I definitely hold the general public to blame, I abhor all forms of panic buying. It is an awful act of selfishness.

I expect the BBC to act responsibly in its reporting not whip up a panic buying frenzy this started with them.

How can it have acted any more responsibly< GG13, apart from not actually reporting it at all (which would have been appallingly Pravdaish, wouldn't it?)

I heard it on Classic FM on Thursday. Very understated. Basically it was: "Because of the shortage of tanker drivers some BP and Esso outlets have had to close." It wasn't even a top item. No whipping involved. But it was obvious even from that that panic mode would set in... Because that's what Brits have always done...

Absolutely

Phil Syrpis
@syrpis
The shortage of lorry drivers is, apparently, a global problem. And yet we can solve it, apparently, by a short-term visa fix.

Any pretence at coherence has left the building.

No it started with a shortage of drivers exacerbated by Brexit

MaizieD I definitely hold the general public to blame, I abhor all forms of panic buying. It is an awful act of selfishness.

I expect the BBC to act responsibly in its reporting not whip up a panic buying frenzy this started with them.

Interesting Twitter thread, by someone who manages a petrol station.

GrannyGravy13

WoodLane7

The media have a lot to answer for; their news coverage of a handful of BP stations running out temporarily has created a mass panic. Had they kept out of it BP and the rest could have probably ridden the storm with minimal disruption

Exactly, but hey ho let’s show pictures of closed petrol pumps whip the gullible general public into a panic buying frenzy and there you have it…

More empty pumps, more panic buying…

Round and round it goes

The problem is, should the news be strictly controlled to prevent this sort of thing (like Pravda, perhaps?) or should the supposedly sensible Great British Public (you know, the public that voted to leave the EU) be trusted to understand what is going and behave rationally?

It was absolutely inevitable that the public would panic at the hint of a shortage because they have form dating back 40+ years for it.

Don't blame the press, blame the people who interpret what the press says.

Whitewavemark2

What business is now doing in the absence of the government listening is going to the media.

So don’t shoot the messenger.

I’d like to shoot all the ridiculous people filling up their cars just in case along with numerous containers in their boots…

What business is now doing in the absence of the government listening is going to the media.

So don’t shoot the messenger.

felice

Perhaps if the news channels were not splashing it on TV people would not be panic buying. Just saying.

My thoughts exactly!

MaizieD

Gnetters are trigger happy this morning

Wasting time waiting for washing machine to finish, and feel extremely lazy.

The point is that business flags up these issues weeks months or in the driver shortage years in advance, but this government consistently fails for various reasons to act on them

We then find ourselves spiralling into these crises that should and could have been avoided.

Yes, the media have a lot to answer for in the scaremongering arena

Gnetters are trigger happy this morning

@felice
Exactly my thoughts!