Petrol queues reported now on BBC news

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Alegrias1

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

Definitely ??

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

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.

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

[smug mode emoticon]
I'd just like to say that my husband did a one hundred mile cycle ride on his last business trip. The car stayed at home.

[remove smug mode emoticon]
I can't ride a bike, so if it weren't for my bus pass I'd be scuppered!

In these dark and gloomy times???

Kitty I hope you manage to find enough to get you back when you get up there. DS says they are struggling to find outlets that haven’t sold out at the moment. He is umming and aahing whether he can afford to use the fuel he has in his tank to come down here tomorrow, in case he can’t get any more. Fingers crossed for you?? and safe journey!

Brilliant, Whitewave!?

We have known for a while that there is a serious shortage of HGV drivers and this situation was inevitable. Tanker drivers carrying fuel were so poorly paid that they left their dangerous job to drive for supermarkets.

growstuff

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!

FFS
No need for the heavy sarcasm - I was giving an example of where I was at the time. .
Just as you have been known refer to where you live even if what you describe is not typical for others.

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

Remind me not to make a 200 mile trip to Growstuff’s local Tesco petrol station..

Remind me again, what was Project Fear about?