Panic buying pillocks...

[Grahamm]

So, I was planning on getting out on the bike today to enjoy the last of the warm weather and take a pic of the bike next to a signal box to complete the current FOC-U Bike Picture Challenge, but unfortunately I didn't tank up when I came back from surfing in Bristol a few days ago.

Now I have a near-empty tank and I'm not going to sit in a queue with a bunch of morons selfishly panic buying petrol because "well, I don't need it right now, but if I don't fill up now, everyone else will have taken it all..." and creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy!

 

[red98]

morning Grahamm, in the same situation. just about got home last night in the cage, fuel light on for the last 20 ish miles. checked both bikes this morning and both empty ...looks like i`am on my mountain bike for work on Monday...Thats going to please my son, works at the same place and gets a lift   

[Gnasher]

The blame for this sits squarely with 24hr news and their sensationalism of any news they can and saying just buy fuel as normal.

As soon as they do that............. you you know what going to happen 

Ultimately it sits with the twats in government, who like most stuff of late just can't or don't want to see things coming, utterly reactive instead of being proactive.  Oh and I'm not going to mention the B word 

[Dudeofrude]

To be fair I've found it just a case of visiting the stations at the right time. Round here we've had the same stupidly packed forecourts as the rest of the country but last night I went to Tesco about 9pm and there were only a handful of cars so I walked back home and took the wife's car for her weekly top up and this morning I left for work slightly earlier than usual and managed to fill my car up at a jet garage near work as most people were still in bed haha

[unfazed]

[agricola]

The blame for this sits squarely with 24hr news and their sensationalism of any news they can and saying just buy fuel as normal.

As soon as they do that............. you you know what going to happen 

Ultimately it sits with the twats in government, who like most stuff of late just can't or don't want to see things coming, utterly reactive instead of being proactive.  Oh and I'm not going to mention the B word 

I think it goes deeper than that Gnasher. Two or event three decades of encouraging young people to universities for worthless degrees, insufficient training programmes and encouragement into worthwhile productive employments, ,media focus on an alternative reality in which everything is always someone elses fault and that the state will provide, privatisation of essential national services which has led to lack of investment and profiteering, and led to significant quantity of our energy supplies now being provided by foreign powers, who  may or may not decide at some point to curtail supply

[Grahamm]

Ultimately it sits with the twats in government, who like most stuff of late just can't or don't want to see things coming, utterly reactive instead of being proactive. 

Not forgetting that they rushed out a statement saying that we had a "robust" supply chain and they had everything under control which immediately caused people to panic...!

[red98]

Had plans for a days riding on the mighty thou today. up early as usual and filled the bike at the next small town. A ten minute que so i joined the back and took my turn...straight back home and drained the tank and put it in the cage 


outrageous i know but have to give my son a lift to work this week, All part of being a parent.


 The cage did`nt have enough fuel left to make it to the garage hence taking the bike, Pain in the arse all down to the stupid panic buyers. Coming back home the garage 1/2 mile from home which had sold out had a tanker on the forecourt, already a que of 30 ish cars, a garage thats not on the open road and not many people use as a bit expensive...


Only in, not so great,  Britain would this happen, The place is full of selfish idiots just looking after themselves....

[Gnasher]

I think it goes deeper than that Gnasher. Two or event three decades of encouraging young people to universities for worthless degrees, insufficient training programmes and encouragement into worthwhile productive employments, ,media focus on an alternative reality in which everything is always someone elses fault and that the state will provide, privatisation of essential national services which has led to lack of investment and profiteering, and led to significant quantity of our energy supplies now being provided by foreign powers, who may or may not decide at some point to curtail supply

I couldn't agree with you more mate

They will end up having to put back just about everything that has been taken apart or sold off, to provide profit to the elite few and greedy corporations, all at our expense   More than ever we need to be self sufficient (post B) and we're not even close, i.e. we can't even supply goods and fuel from warehouses and refineries.  The idea that 5000 odd EU drivers is going to solve the problem of a shortage of 90k plus, is just a joke, that's even if they can get them. 

Why would anybody work for just 3 months on crap wages, away from and get lobbed out on Christmas Eve? Just so you know who can try and save Christmas, because he buggered last year due to denial and short sightedness  

It's going to cost a small fortune to get them to work and many months to get UK drivers trained to drive and more time to get them to be able learn how to actually unload fuel and learn routes etc.  That many new staff arriving all at once will overwhelm many companies, not to mention they don't have the trucks to actually drive   

Another casualty of profit above all else, where much of the goods, work and trucks were from the EU, as it was cheap long term contacts, all gone now 

This is just the start of all the weak links that will be exposed by post B, which will start collapsing, as our economy beings to restart post pandemic.  All of it was highlighted without the impact of Covid, again the gang just assumed UK workforce/companies will just fall over themselves to take up the low paid jobs created so they can max the profit and companies take less profit to pay higher wages etc. 

I think it's possible we're going to see the biggest thus far U turn of any UK government in history, only time will tell     

   

[Grahamm]

 

[Dave48]

I was born post war in 1948 and  we all had ration cards into the early 1950s.  I do remember my dad struggling to get enough petrol coupons at the time of the Suez shenanigans in 1956-he would purchase unwanted coupons from a couple of neighbours as he needed to travel around Kent, Sussex and part of Greater London for his work.
I know you can't compare the situation then with possibly 6 million private vehicles on our roads with the current estimated 36 million private cars etc.
The situation we find ourselves in is the result of decades of asset stripping, sell offs and the cultivation of selfish self seeking  attitudes from the top down.
The peak of the British Empire was around the time Victoria died and we have since paid the price of financing 2 catastrophic World wars.
Unfortunately elitism and the old boy network are  still very much alive and well in "great?" Britain today and all we are witnessing when we see panic buying and selfish greed is a reflection of the behaviour and attitudes of an inept and fundamentally incapable government -all these selfish hoarders simply copying our leaders behaviour.
Why do we still runour country as we did 100 years ago? We need professionally qualified leaders who understand the importance of security of energy supplies, proper  border controls and a benefit/welfare system that requires people to get out of bed when there are jobs to  be done.
I am ashamed to be British the way I see things going. I worry for my children and grandchildrens future.

[Gnasher]

I was born post war in 1948 and  we all had ration cards into the early 1950s.  I do remember my dad struggling to get enough petrol coupons at the time of the Suez shenanigans in 1956-he would purchase unwanted coupons from a couple of neighbours as he needed to travel around Kent, Sussex and part of Greater London for his work.
I know you can't compare the situation then with possibly 6 million private vehicles on our roads with the current estimated 36 million private cars etc.
The situation we find ourselves in is the result of decades of asset stripping, sell offs and the cultivation of selfish self seeking  attitudes from the top down.
The peak of the British Empire was around the time Victoria died and we have since paid the price of financing 2 catastrophic World wars.
Unfortunately elitism and the old boy network are  still very much alive and well in "great?" Britain today and all we are witnessing when we see panic buying and selfish greed is a reflection of the behaviour and attitudes of an inept and fundamentally incapable government -all these selfish hoarders simply copying our leaders behaviour.
Why do we still runour country as we did 100 years ago? We need professionally qualified leaders who understand the importance of security of energy supplies, proper  border controls and a benefit/welfare system that requires people to get out of bed when there are jobs to  be done.
I am ashamed to be British the way I see things going. I worry for my children and grandchildrens future.

I again agree with most of what you say Dave48.

Although you could argue we were already sliding over the edge long before Victoria died.  You could also argue the empire was built on the backs of ordinary working class people, who at the time couldn't even vote, men or women and lined to pockets of the then elite few.  You're dead right about we still run a country the same way effectively did 100 yrs ago.  The whole system is rigged to protect that elite and keep them in control e.g. rob a bank you get 10 yrs, beat up and rob a old lady, it's a smack on the wrist.  Or said rich landlord/corporation doesn't fix/repair your rented housing but you're still paying full rent, you can afford to take them to court and if you do the law is written to protect the landlord. 

The future isn't about race in my view, it's about equality between the "haves and have nots".         

I do now think the current fuel issue has gone past panic buying, that was happening in the first few days last week.  It's now a real storage of fuel at the pumps because the gang who like to call themselves the government, have done absolutely nothing about a something they were told/briefed about by the transport select committee a good while ago.  Instead they believe it will all just go away on its own. 

The vast majority working people need motor transport to get to work, even if the get a train they have to drive to the station.  All the up lift in internet shopping/online supermarket deliveries relies heavily on white van man and the ever growing number of people delivering in their cars, these will types will fill up once a day or every other day. 

I know of many people who's daily commute is between 60 and 200 miles, that's a easily a tank of fuel a week, for petrol possibly 2.  Remember if you don't get to work you don't get paid in most cases and not everyone is yet back at work post pandemic!  Many people are just frighten and doing what they feel they have to to ensure they can get to work, visit a relative they're a career for, hospital appointments you name it all are important to them.  All of the above has to be seriously reduced in the very near future and the government are telling us just that, but how, what is being done to stop or reduce all these journeys?............... nothing I can see as yet.

The real issue regardless of what party or political side of the fence you're, there's little/no trust in the current gang oh sorry I mean government.  Which is packed full of people with little or no real life experience, just about all of them from privileged backgrounds, who've never had to worry about how they pay the rent, next bill or just feed themselves!     

But rest assured the gang have got someone to blame for it............ us  so they're off the hook 

oh anyone seen the PM


                 

[Grahamm]

 

[Dave48]

That quote from John Redwood shows how detached from reality some of our so called leaders are. Even a small boy knows there's a big difference between driving a van( up to 3.5 tonnes if my memory is correct ) & a 44 tonne hgv particularly the non-rigid category.
It has also been  suggested  that the reversing parts of the have test could be dispensed with in an attempt to speed up process of getting new drivers "qualified" to drive these leviathans. This shows the complete lack of understanding of what is involved in the safe operation of these vehicles which requires a remarkable skill set in real world conditions.
Being a bit of a cynic it even crossed my mind that shortages of any  commodity always result in price increases so is it just possible so eone started the rumour of shortage to create a self-fulfilling prophecy thereby forcing prices sky high. Good news for the oil giants but bad for the rest of us.
Is there any particular reason why we have to employ workers from low wage economies when it suits our government  while we have high levels of poverty,deprivation and unemployment levels. It isn't good for people's mental health or physical well being to be trying to survive on state benefits. What is happening to our nation?
We can not survive as some sort of theme park for wealthy visitors from richer countries, all the while slipping down the slope towards 3rd world status.

[BBROWN1664]

It has also been  suggested  that the reversing parts of the have test could be dispensed with in an attempt to speed up process of getting new drivers "qualified" to drive these leviathans.

More crap media reporting - It has not been dispensed with, they are effectively creating a CBT element whereby the training school has to sign you off on that before you can take your full test.

[Grahamm]

Meanwhile, I saw on the news today, someone mentioning that, the last time there was a problem with fuel supply, certain filling stations were kept supplied, but reserved for key workers, emergency services personnel etc so you had to prove that you were entitled to fill up before they'd let you do so.

My problem is that I'm supposed to be going up to Bristol next Tuesday, so I'm just hoping that they get this nonsense sorted out because I'm not going to get far on what I've got in the tank right now...

[darrsi]

I went out at 6am this morning on the hunt for fuel, and it was already gridlocked everywhere.
Around 6.45am on the way into work I saw about 80 cars in a queue for one garage, which only had one pump in service when I went past.
The thing is, they were all queuing in a bus lane, inside a hard white line, and at 7am they will be liable for a ticket if the camera gets their number plate.

[Trebus]

.

[darrsi]

I went out at 6am this morning on the hunt for fuel, and it was already gridlocked everywhere.
Around 6.45am on the way into work I saw about 80 cars in a queue for one garage, which only had one pump in service when I went past.
The thing is, they were all queuing in a bus lane, inside a hard white line, and at 7am they will be liable for a ticket if the camera gets their number plate.

Finally got fuelled up this morning, after a 90min wait.