Fuel panic!

[Mincey]

Has panic fuel buying started in your area? I've got a range of 103 miles which needs to get me to Huntingdon and back on Sunday and to Leicester on Friday for the fuel pump recall. Should I fill up a jerry can and stick it in the boot for Friday's return journey in case there's no go-go juice near the dealer or just hope for the best...? Having to keep the low fuel level for the last two months for the recall has been a major pain in the arse and I will be telling them that on Friday. Note to self: contact them on Thursday to make sure that a) they have a courtesy car and b) the replacement pump is actually in the stock room this time...

[PCM]

A little bit. Small queues here for petrol ( but no diesel available. )

I reckon by Monday it will be old news.

I blame the media.

As long as we have Mince Pies for Christmas...

[royoftherovers]

I`d take 2 cans if possible James.

Not noticed any problems here in Andalusia yet !🤣

[First_Lexus]

1 hour ago, Mincey said:

Has panic fuel buying started in your area? I've got a range of 103 miles which needs to get me to Huntingdon and back on Sunday and to Leicester on Friday for the fuel pump recall. Should I fill up a jerry can and stick it in the boot for Friday's return journey in case there's no go-go juice near the dealer or just hope for the best...? Having to keep the low fuel level for the last two months for the recall has been a major pain in the arse and I will be telling them that on Friday. Note to self: contact them on Thursday to make sure that a) they have a courtesy car and b) the replacement pump is actually in the stock room this time...

Nothing here in West Berkshire yesterday. My NX was down to 37 miles of range last night and I stopped at the local Esso filling station - no queues, no shortage. 

My understanding is this is a pretty limited issue at this stage. Obviously, nothing the media love more than a scare story…

As a (related) aside, I’ve also noticed no shortages in the shops. My Ocado delivery on Wednesday came fully stocked, with no substitutions. According to what I read and see in the media I must just be lucky. Ridiculous.

https://newsthump.com/2021/09/24/man-panic-buying-toilet-rolls-for-third-time-in-a-year-providing-helpful-new-definition-of-insanity/

[Mincey]

I was on a Zoom call just now and one of the attendees was desperate to leave and go to fill up, as his wife had just reported queueing going on at their local filling station. It was a boring meeting though, so he may have just been being rather inventive in his excuse for doing something better!

[doog442]

Our local rag reporting huge queues. I filled up yesterday and the front set of pumps were closed (Tesco). Just cycled by an Esso and BP station and both shut with no fuel signs up.

Press creating a mountain out of a molehill and a population who panic at a drop of a hat.  

[royoftherovers]

44 minutes ago, doog442 said:

Our local rag reporting huge queues. I filled up yesterday and the front set of pumps were closed (Tesco). Just cycled by an Esso and BP station and both shut with no fuel signs up.

Press creating a mountain out of a molehill and a population who panic at a drop of a hat.  

Exactly, Doog.

[Chris111]

7 hours ago, Mincey said:

Has panic fuel buying started in your area? I've got a range of 103 miles which needs to get me to Huntingdon and back on Sunday and to Leicester on Friday for the fuel pump recall. Should I fill up a jerry can and stick it in the boot for Friday's return journey in case there's no go-go juice near the dealer or just hope for the best...? Having to keep the low fuel level for the last two months for the recall has been a major pain in the arse and I will be telling them that on Friday. Note to self: contact them on Thursday to make sure that a) they have a courtesy car and b) the replacement pump is actually in the stock room this time...

Been reading on local social media that Carlisle and Penrith have experienced it today, with a few people saying the Shell station in Penrith has run out of fuel! It is interesting that there are a few BP stations here but they seem to be fine. I agree with statements above that it is the media (especially the print media) who have blown this out of all proportion, but hey, that sells newspapers and as an added bonus they can also inflict their own (or the proprietors) political view about it upon you.

[Bluesman]

Thank the lord for LPG. Don't have to go anywhere near a petrol station and I don't have to do anything when I get there as they serve you with the LPG.

Civilised. 

[Exdee]

It was pretty mental here today. Traffic jams in both directions because people were queuing on the main roads to fill up.

I can only presume this is the same crowd that panic bought toilet rolls not long ago.

Idiots

[Mr Vlad]

I go to my local tesco to fill up my 7.5t truck every day. Blimey there was a ruddy Q, about 9 cars in front of me. WTF I thought, bloody idiots. Bog roll syndrome again. I'm in Rochdale. Only 1 pump was down, momentum but only the one pump but that's been down nearly 2 weeks. I'm gonna go there in the morning as I'm on 1/4 tank.

Bloody media spreading utter shyte yet again and Pillocks who fall for it. Sheeesh. 

[dutchie01]

I heard they currently offer 120k p.a. for a truck driver?  can that be true?

[Spacewagon52]

No petrol locally - my daughter had to travel 10 miles to fill up. Big queues.

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

I heard they currently offer 120k p.a. for a truck driver?  can that be true?

No.

[RobinGBrown]

Local Shell is dry (Sutton) and as the reserve light just came on I'm now officially screwed unless they get a delivery overnight.

[Bounce75]

I have just come back from Portugal today, travelling from Heathrow to Maidstone in my wife's car the petrol was getting quite low.

I drove past 5 stations that were all out of fuel, I managed to find one that only had super unleaded, but there was quite a queue.

I didn't even know anything about a shortage so was quite shocked when I found them all empty!

[Malc]

16 hours ago, doog442 said:

Press creating a mountain out of a molehill and a population who panic at a drop of a hat. 

of course that's what they do .  they simply have to make news ...  and create panic with it sooooo unnecessarily

we see it at every turn with the media, being totally irresponsible

Just look at their coverage of the Kabul Taliban situation causing panic at the gates and people being crushed and dying

With the USA planning this peaceful takeover by the Taliban since 2018 and the USA holding ALL the country's funds in the States under US Govt control .  the Taliban can't put a foot wrong, or indeed anywhere without US say so .........  press sensationalism at that time caused irresponsible deaths BUT at least they're only causing petrol queues here in the UK at this time ...  what's next for the irresponsible press coverage one wonders

Malc

[Mincey]

It was madness at my local filling station just now:

 

 

[paulrnx]

I’m in North Wales with only 30 miles showing. I should have filled up on the way over at quieter fuel stations. Got here yesterday and it’s gone mad, huge queues everywhere. Hadn’t realised it would be like this. 

[paulrnx]

56 minutes ago, Mincey said:

It was madness at my local filling station just now:

 

 

Haven’t seen any madness yet at our house in the middle of the street 

[Mossypossy]

That comment was one step beyond.

[Mincey]

1 minute ago, Mossypossy said:

That comment was one step beyond.

My girl says otherwise....

[Arnett]

Its a complete joke here in Colchester. 

Large amounts of stations have had queues since 5am. My wife who works 12 hour night shifts is now sleeping at work all day before her shift tonight as she doesn't have enough fuel to get home (half hour commute) and then back again tonight, all due to this mass hysteria and fear LED by the "free press". 

 

The media is often claimed to be "Those who hold governments to account", but im sorry its about time that those publications who cause panic, fear and scare monger tactics to sell papers or stories are at a minimal fined for causing public disorder. This all kicked off because 5 BP garages had a supply issue out of 1200 stations 

 

 

Attached is a photo a friend sent me yesterday early evening while waiting to fill up on his way to work at a hospital 

[First_Lexus]

28 minutes ago, Arnett said:

Its a complete joke here in Colchester. 

Large amounts of stations have had queues since 5am. My wife who works 12 hour night shifts is now sleeping at work all day before her shift tonight as she doesn't have enough fuel to get home (half hour commute) and then back again tonight, all due to this mass hysteria and fear led by the "free press". 

 

The media is often claimed to be "Those who hold governments to account", but im sorry its about time that those publications who cause panic, fear and scare monger tactics to sell papers or stories are at a minimal fined for causing public disorder. This all kicked off because 5 BP garages had a supply issue out of 1200 stations 

 

 

Attached is a photo a friend sent me yesterday early evening while waiting to fill up on his way to work at a hospital 

It really is enough to make you weep!

The HGV driver shortage is an issue across the whole of Europe at the moment. Poland lacks even more drivers than we do, and with a significantly smaller population. France, Germany and Italy also have a shortage of drivers. The pandemic has accelerated the move to home delivery across the supply chain, and that has put pressure on an already stretched industry. Add in the 20,000 EU nationals who were HGV drivers and who left the UK over the last couple of years and that’s what is being blamed. However, UK drivers have been leaving the industry for years as conditions and pay have been poor. Bringing in cheaper labour from abroad was never a good solution. Even so…

…the UK supply chain can cope as long as demand is stable and peaks such as Christmas are planned. We’ve been doing it for decades. The actions of the press and the population at the start of the pandemic and now with fuel shows how vulnerable we can be when things go awry. The internet has made that worse, with rolling news coverage and sensationalist social media from commentators with an axe to grind one way or another or - even worse - ‘followers’ to recruit.

The UK will train more drivers - as will the rest of Europe. Granting temporary visas now won’t make much difference imho because of the shortage across the continent. At least wages and conditions for those drivers should improve as the reliance on their scarce skills is understood more, and they are appreciated more. This is a temporary situation, but it is being made far worse than it should be.

I’ve worked in the supply chain industry for my entire career. You can’t legislate or plan effectively for this madness. You can try to mitigate risk, which is what everybody has been doing, but ultimately this type of reckless behaviour has consequences. 

A cynic would say that the industry figures from retailers such as Tesco and Iceland are using the situation in order to get their cheap labour back and increase their profits. That’s what a cynic would say…
 

 

 

[Arnett]

13 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

 

The HGV driver shortage is an issue across the whole of Europe at the moment. Poland lacks even more drivers than we do, and with a significantly smaller population. France, Germany and Italy also have a shortage of drivers. The pandemic has accelerated the move to home delivery across the supply chain, and that has put pressure on an already stretched industry. Add in the 20,000 EU nationals who were HGV drivers and who left the UK over the last couple of years and that’s what is being blamed. However, UK drivers have been leaving the industry for years as conditions and pay have been poor. Bringing in cheaper labour from abroad was never a good solution. Even so…

This whole "Brexit caused the shortage" drivel annoys the hell out of me. Yes the whole of Europe has a huge HGV shortage, and the removal of the 20k foreign drivers have moved cheap drivers out of the UK but the issue was already there. Thousands of people leave the industry for reasons that cause people to leave any job. Crap hours, Crap companies and Crap money. 

Only now are you starting to see HGV drivers get what I would call a fair wage for the working conditions that they are meant to follow in. I was gob smacked that HGV drivers started at around 25k until recently. When I learnt that I was actually glad that cheap foreign workers had been shipped off. 

Personally I think the government should bring in some grant system to pay for HGV driver training, Id sign up (just cant afford the few grand for training outright )  the current salaries are not awful (Still personally think these guys shouldn't earn less than 50k full time) and if someone was to take the grant and not work in the industry for X time they should have to pay it back. 

 

This entire thing has made me so Fu****g angry. I haven't seen my wife properly since Thursday due to sleep patterns, I wont properly see her now until the earliest Tomorrow morning (Briefly before she goes to bed) And that is if im lucky.  She has colleagues queuing up for her to buy her a jerry can or two while she rests. If they are unsuccessful she will also be spending tomorrow at work sleeping between shifts. Even the kids are complaining funnily enough they wanna see the mother.  Absolute bunch of stupid c***s whoever decided to push this narrative. 

 

/Anger off. Sorry for the rant....