Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

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.

It shouldn't be allowed B9exchange that's just selfish{angry].

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.

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!!

We have a Shell petrol station in our road, it was quiet (it usually is) first thing this morning, then the presenter on our local radio station told people go out and fill your tanks up, who knows when this will be over and hey ho there are now three queues!!!!!!! One in each direction in the High Road and the other down the side road ???

This is absolutely ridiculous, I do not believe in censoring the media, but flipping heck how about sensible and balanced reporting. Hell no we now have a media driven frenzy which could/almost probably will lead to more shortages.

growstuff

Alegrias1

I don't disagree growstuff.

But panicked-sounding people on the radio telling us their livelihoods are at risk and that it's carnage out there just makes it worse and people like Vine should know better. But there's nothing like a good scare story for getting the listeners excited.

There's one petrol station in my town, a Tesco one, and the queues this morning were right round the car park. For nothing. There's no shortages in Scotland. Well there will be now that people have started filling up when they don't need to. I'm really quite annoyed

How do people fill up their cars with petrol they don't need? If they fill up today, they won't need to fill up tomorrow or next week. There's a limit to how much petrol tanks hold. It's really not at all like toilet rolls.

I think it was it in 2000 there were petrol shortages? Anyway I remember the long queues at any petrol station that had fuel and reports of drivers topping up their tanks with as little as 5 litres of petrol. They created a bigger problem and that is panic buying. I wonder how many of those who stockpiled toilet rolls and every other short supply commodity during lockdown will adopt the reasoned fair approach you're expecting?

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

I’ve just returned from Sainsbury’s and it was Bedlam. At first I thought it was a queue for MaccyD’s, but it was for fuel. Got to say, I was on fumes and squeezed £77 worth in my tank, but many looked to be just ‘topping up’ judging by their length of stay.

Yes, queuing in St.Andrews too !

I'm in Northumberland, all of my local garages had queues. Lots of people here work 30 plus miles away in Newcastle and further, it is a worry.

Nannan2

Oh, & power cuts..we survived all that.

And?

ExDancer

It reminds me of the great toilet roll shortage during the first lockdown. Sheer panic.
I refused to go silly and didn't buy extra.
Guess what - we ran put of toilet rolls and had to borrow from my daughter.

It's absolutely nothing like the panic buying of toilet rolls. People need fuel and they can't store it for a rainy day. They didn't need all the toilet rolls which they bought.

Oh, & power cuts..we survived all that.

My son always keeps an eye on the gauge, and fills up when it gets to a quarter of a tank anyway- he's been taking his brother to college & back (as its a 2bus journey) and uses it to get all 3 of us to medical appts etc, so its essential to us.He topped up this morning, says was no queues or shortage where he usually goes..Didn't we have petrol shortages back in the 1970's?& strikes etc? I was at school then, but remember some things. I think we had 3 day weeks too??

they better do it just in case.

That's being sensible!

PS. My local Tesco petrol station regularly has queues in normal times, especially at the weekend.

It reminds me of the great toilet roll shortage during the first lockdown. Sheer panic.
I refused to go silly and didn't buy extra.
Guess what - we ran put of toilet rolls and had to borrow from my daughter.

Unfortunately, delivery problems could last more than a few days, so people are going to have to plan when they buy fuel. In my last job, I used to fill up every three or four days. I had a long commute and a small car, which didn't hold much petrol. If I were still doing that job, I'd be on the internet trying to find out where I could guarantee to get petrol and I'd head straight there rather than faffing around trying the nearest petrol stations first. I expect other people would do the same, so certain petrol stations would get busy very quickly.

People can't buy more petrol than they need, unless they have a personal storage depot, but some people do need to buy a lot and they need to buy it regularly. They can't afford to run out on the way to work, so it's sensible to be opportunistic and fill up when fuel is available.

Obviously not for White, actually Green vans but for double rigged lorries of course.

Again, agreed. But there are rarely any queues at our local Tesco garage. So the rational assumption is that people who would not normally be filling up, have decided they better do it just in case. So the petrol in the garage's tanks gets used up much more quickly that it usually does.

Most garages work on Just in Time deliveries I expect, for which they plan ahead. So they might normally expect to run out of petrol on a Monday, say. But instead, they run out on the Saturday and people who want to fill up as normal are inconvenienced by the panic buyers who are filling up "just in case". Or filling their petrol cans "as a back up".

But the fact that a car can only hold so much petrol at one time should be the limiting factor, I expect.

The reality is though Alegrias1 that it’s very temporary, there’s a finite demand unless people travel more. So they top up their car to full today, which causes a very short term supply issue, but then when the deliveries next come in nobody needs as much fuel because they have already topped up - so provided there really is only a delivery problem the issue will only last a few days (unlike toilet rolls where some people are probably still using their supplies from March 2020).

Septimia

There is no shortage of fuel, just of drivers to get it to the garages for us to buy it - at the moment, anyway.

I still have, somewhere, the petrol ration book I was issued with back in the 70s (?) when there really was a fuel shortage.

I'm not disputing that and I don't think anybody is seriously claiming there is. However, it doesn't matter to a driver who can't buy fuel when the petrol stations are empty.

The argument about "no shortages" is a deflection from the real issue.

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

No, you don't - not in the UK, at least. I've driven one a few times when I've done my own removals.

There is no shortage of fuel, just of drivers to get it to the garages for us to buy it - at the moment, anyway.

I still have, somewhere, the petrol ration book I was issued with back in the 70s (?) when there really was a fuel shortage.

Alegrias1

I don't disagree growstuff.

But panicked-sounding people on the radio telling us their livelihoods are at risk and that it's carnage out there just makes it worse and people like Vine should know better. But there's nothing like a good scare story for getting the listeners excited.

There's one petrol station in my town, a Tesco one, and the queues this morning were right round the car park. For nothing. There's no shortages in Scotland. Well there will be now that people have started filling up when they don't need to. I'm really quite annoyed

How do people fill up their cars with petrol they don't need? If they fill up today, they won't need to fill up tomorrow or next week. There's a limit to how much petrol tanks hold. It's really not at all like toilet rolls.

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