Petrol shortages

[Spud]

My town is dry this evening. Is yours?

[SteveH]

"And now, over to Kat Walker at Paris fashion week"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/25/whats-in-a-name-phil-mccann-lightens-the-nations-mood

[Aruntraveller]

My town is dry this evening. Is yours?

Not sure. What I do know is that when we went out yesterday for a walk on the Downs the drive back was horrendous. I only realised later that it was due to all the twonks waiting to get into petrol forecourts.

[Aruntraveller]

Breaking news: every sperm bank in the UK is running low as every wanker in the country is at the petrol station.

[Robbie]

Queues everywhere. Glad I can get to work easily without car, I might bus it on Monday.

[Maeght]

My town is dry this evening. Is yours?

No idea, as I haven't been out trying to buy petrol that I don't need at the moment.

[Spud]

I was a bit worried, because even Sainsburys ran dry yesterday. But I managed to fill up at Tesco this morning, and it looks as though if we don't mind queuing there will be enough to go round.

[SteveH]

Ridiculous queues outside a local filling-station this morning

[Harrowby Hall]

My on-board information system was telling me that my fuel tank was almost empy, so I went to my local Morrisons this morning at 05.50 (the petrol station opens at 06.00). There was one other person waiting. By the time that I had filled my tank about half a dozen other cars had arrived.
The employee who opened up the petrol station told me that there had been a delivery yesterday and that they had plenty of petrol and diesel.

[jeremyp]

My on-board information system was telling me that my fuel tank was almost empy, so I went to my local Morrisons this morning at 05.50 (the petrol station opens at 06.00). There was one other person waiting. By the time that I had filled my tank about half a dozen other cars had arrived.
The employee who opened up the petrol station told me that there had been a delivery yesterday and that they had plenty of petrol and diesel.

Not surprised because there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. As soo as All the panic buyers have filled their tanks (which they probably have by now), things will go back to normal.

[ProfessorDavey]

Not surprised because there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. As soo as All the panic buyers have filled their tanks (which they probably have by now), things will go back to normal.

You can't stockpile petrol in the way you can for toilet rolls

That said I was reading an article this morning which was reflecting on the fuel crisis of 2000 - apparently this went on longer that people imagined because lots of drivers simply kept their cars full of fuel - so rather than wait to refuel when nearly empty they refuelled whenever the opportunity arose to keep their tank full even if it was 80% full before refuelling. Now I don't remember this but the article talked about some petrol stations back then requiring a minimum spend to prevent drivers doing this.

On the up side ... personally speaking we have over half a tank and no plans to use the car for any significant journeys over the next couple of weeks so I'm going to hold tight.

On the downside ... we have a leaking pipe requiring us to have the water turned off most of the time. Our plumber came to look at on Thursday and planned to return to fix it on Saturday. Got a message Sturday morning - he has no fuel so cancelled. No idea when he is going to be able to get to us.

[splashscuba]

Not surprised because there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. As soo as All the panic buyers have filled their tanks (which they probably have by now), things will go back to normal.

Its SOP for governments to blame its citizens when panic buying occurs. It undoubtably does happen but this government has failed show its done any strategic work to mitigate the effects of the Pandemic and Brexit.

[Nearly Sane]

Meanwhile

[jeremyp]

Its SOP for governments to blame its citizens when panic buying occurs. It undoubtably does happen but this government has failed show its done any strategic work to mitigate the effects of the Pandemic and Brexit.

The government doesn't run the fuel industry, nor does it run the haulage industry.

The shortage of drivers is partly (but not entirely) due to Brexit. Obviously leaving the EU was a stupid mistake, but even that is not entirely the fault of this government (it wouldn't have happened if more citizens had voted to stay in than leave).

Leaving Brexit aside, what should the government have done to avert this crisis?

[ProfessorDavey]

The shortage of drivers is partly (but not entirely) due to Brexit. Obviously leaving the EU was a stupid mistake, but even that is not entirely the fault of this government (it wouldn't have happened if more citizens had voted to stay in than leave).

Sure it isn't entirely due to Brexit - the pandemic has had an effect on training new drivers.

However on the Brexit part, I'm sorry but the government is entirely to blame. All we voted for was to leave the EU - that did not require the government to get rid of freedom of movement, it did not require the government to remove visas from european HGV drivers - those were entirely decisions the government is responsible for. They could have both respected the brexit vote and ensured that EU workers in key sectors with skills shortages were given work visas.

[Udayana]

The government has repeatedly stated that there is no shortage of petrol and no need to "panic buy", also that the driver shortages have been apparent all through brexit and the pandemic. Despite the issues we have coped OK in general up to now.

So why are people panic buying? - because everyone that voted for them  and everyone that did not, know that that government is run by a bunch of incompetent buffoons, you can't believe anything they say and they cannot be trusted to deal with any problem situations effectively.

[jeremyp]

Sure it isn't entirely due to Brexit - the pandemic has had an effect on training new drivers.

No, in fact, there was already a shortage of HGV drivers in 2016.

However on the Brexit part, I'm sorry but the government is entirely to blame. All we voted for was to leave the EU - that did not require the government to get rid of freedom of movement, it did not require the government to remove visas from european HGV drivers - those were entirely decisions the government is responsible for. They could have both respected the brexit vote and ensured that EU workers in key sectors with skills shortages were given work visas.

I said it was not entirely the fault of this government. That doesn't mean this government can be absolved of all blame or even the majority of it. Other people also have a share in it and I count all 17,410,742 people who voted leave to be culpable.

[jeremyp]

The government has repeatedly stated that there is no shortage of petrol and no need to "panic buy", also that the driver shortages have been apparent all through brexit and the pandemic. Despite the issues we have coped OK in general up to now.

So why are people panic buying? - because everyone that voted for them  and everyone that did not, know that that government is run by a bunch of incompetent buffoons, you can't believe anything they say and they cannot be trusted to deal with any problem situations effectively.

Upthread, I said there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. Although I still think it's true, I've come to realise it doesn't matter. The supply at the petrol station forecourt is not meeting the demand. I think that meets the definition of shortage.

[Udayana]

Upthread, I said there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. Although I still think it's true, I've come to realise it doesn't matter. The supply at the petrol station forecourt is not meeting the demand. I think that meets the definition of shortage.

Yes, that is right, however, the supply is sufficient for the normal demand. It is the "panic", extra filling up that is causing the shortage - similar to the food and toilet paper, etc shortages at the start of lockdown. 
 

[ProfessorDavey]

Upthread, I said there isn't a shortage in the absolute sense. Although I still think it's true, I've come to realise it doesn't matter. The supply at the petrol station forecourt is not meeting the demand. I think that meets the definition of shortage.

Absolutely - a shortage, in any reasonable sense, is when you want to buy something but you can't because it is unavailable. The notion that there is no shortage because there is plenty of fuel in some dept somewhere but not on the forecourt is as non-sense as claiming there was no shortage of various products from China some months ago when ships couldn't get through because the Suez canal was blocked.

Ministers trying to tell the public there is no shortage when they know all their local petrol stations are closed just make them look dishonest and chronically out of touch.

[SteveH]

Ridiculously long queues at garages in Hemel and Berkhamsted today.