Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

Dont go to supermarket fuel stations long queues, just went down the road and fuel station empty, like the supposedly empty shelves I went to a smaller supermarket and found the shelves well stocked got some lovely fillet steak etc. Just the media again making mountains out of molehills

Apparently, if you like my bits of local gossip explaining human behaviour, the JET garage has only temporarily closed its pumps to allow the safe passing and collection at the nearby school and will reopen after the school run.

I have a conversion kit to make my bike electric. I might get it up and running this weekend.

Alegrias1

Its nice GG13 that we can agree on some things while disagreeing on others. A sign of maturity, I think.

Definitely ??

They've shut all the pumps at all the petrol stations here in both neighbouring towns. Local facebook is in full swing
<sigh>

Its nice GG13 that we can agree on some things while disagreeing on others. A sign of maturity, I think.

Alegrias1

^Exactly! Why is that so difficult to understand?^

If all these people need fuel over the weekend, why isn't there a queue at my local Tescos every Friday morning?

Answer: because people are buying petrol before they need it, just in case, which is disrupting the long established pattern of sales and causing unnecessary shortfalls in stock at many more stations than are affected by the actual delays to deliveries.

For whatever reason they are doing it, and I just do not believe that all those people are doing it because they have a pressing need to have a full tank before the weekend, the early buying of petrol when it is not needed is going to cause further disruption to supplies.

Totally agree with you on this, the media reporting
has made a hiccup in supply into a panic buying frenzy of their making.

I avoid using the car whenever possible as we have good bus services. The car will remain unused until this furore has died down.

All this reminds me of Dad’s Army; sergeant Jones “Don’t panic!” It’s a sure way of inducing panic very rapidly. It’s rather like saying to someone “pull yourself together”. It has the exactly opposite effect.

Exactly! Why is that so difficult to understand?

If all these people need fuel over the weekend, why isn't there a queue at my local Tescos every Friday morning?

Answer: because people are buying petrol before they need it, just in case, which is disrupting the long established pattern of sales and causing unnecessary shortfalls in stock at many more stations than are affected by the actual delays to deliveries.

For whatever reason they are doing it, and I just do not believe that all those people are doing it because they have a pressing need to have a full tank before the weekend, the early buying of petrol when it is not needed is going to cause further disruption to supplies.

DH filled my car up yesterday when he was driving it as we are going to York and back on Saturday. Today, we went out in his car and, after about 10 miles, discovered that it had only 30 miles left. The first garage we came to had spaces at lots of pumps so not a lot of panicking going on here.

Casdon you’re probably right about half empty tanks but you see my point about the reason for queues?

I drove through a Surrey village this morning on my way to Waitrose and passed a queue of traffic waiting to get onto a petrol station forecourt.
I do this route most Fridays and have never seen traffic queuing there before.

Meanwhile we are told there are only a handful of places shut so there really is no need to panic.

Another situation the media has blown up with entirely predictable results.

Riverwalk

I don't own a car so not immediately affected, but will scream if I hear one more BBC presenter/government minister say that there is no fuel shortage.

Of course there is a shortage, at the fuel pumps, where it matters!

If I were a driver and needed fuel to get to work over the weekend, then it would make sense to fill-up today in case there is none tomorrow - it's reasonable to do so and unfair to accuse people of panicking.

[sigh]

Exactly! Why is that so difficult to understand?

Too late to save our Turkey farmers though, but sprout pickers will be most welcome??

I just hope that there are HGV drivers from Europe willing to help bail us out. Probably will at a price.

I don't own a car so not immediately affected, but will scream if I hear one more BBC presenter/government minister say that there is no fuel shortage.

Of course there is a shortage, at the fuel pumps, where it matters!

If I were a driver and needed fuel to get to work over the weekend, then it would make sense to fill-up today in case there is none tomorrow - it's reasonable to do so and unfair to accuse people of panicking.

FT reporting.

Boris Johnson has given the go-ahead to ministers to relax UK immigration rules to allow more foreign truck drivers into the country to ease shortages at petrol stations and wider economic disruption.

Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end of the ridiculous ideology that is Brexit.

MayBeMaw

Filled up before I left Birmingham and while some unleaded pumps were shut, (possibly half) - no queues.

Great! I only have to make a 200 mile round trip next time I need fuel - good to know!

JenniferEccles

Wouldn’t it be interesting if tv reporters visited petrol stations and asked to look at the fuel gauges of the queuing cars?
I suspect most of them would be at least a half to three quarters full, in other wise, panic buying.
The driver could then be challenged about why they were contributing to the queues.

Of course it won’t happen.

If people fill up when they already have three quarters of a tank, they can't be buying that much.

I had only a teaspoon left on Wednesday, so I half filled the tank on Thursday, as I had a journey planned for today which would take me past a petrol station which is much cheaper than round here. Of course, there were long queues, so I didn’t bother, as I still had plenty for short essential journeys. I shall have to think twice about inessential ones now.

B9exchange

Just filled up as only a teaspoonful left, and had to wait ages behind a chap filling up not only his car, but a bootful of petrol cans, getting the last drop into each one. Now that is panic buying!!

Yes, it is and the petrol station should have stopped it.

Oh my days!!!!! words fail me, so much doom and gloom in the news for us all!!!!

Smileless2012

If the point you were making is that it doesn't matter if it's just a handful growstuff then that's what you should have posted, rather than implying that my post was suggesting it didn't matter.

I didn't imply it. That was your misinterpretation.

JaneJudge

Do you need a special licence to drive a white van? I'm sure my driving licence says I can drive up so many tons

I presume you passed your test before 1997?
People who have passed since then can't automatically drive vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.

We have a motorhome, which both OH and I are entitled to drive without any change to our old licences .
My step-daughter, 49, could also drive it in theory, but sons of 40 and 38 couldn't without adding another category to their licences. What that would actually entail, I don't know.

JenniferEccles don’t most people fill their car when it’s half empty anyway though? I thought that was the advice from the motoring organisations - when a diesel engine which is what I have draws in air instead of fuel, both the fuel pump and fuel injectors can become damaged, so you shouldn’t let them run low.

I live in a rural village and we regularly have power cuts, especially during harvest. It's hardly ideal and if it happens of an evening, people have to sit in pitch black for hours. Why would anyone actively want this?