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Surely you need a ticket beyond ‘HGV driver’ to unload 36,000 litres of combustible fuel?
I’ve just tried to get fuel - tried 15 garages between Redhill and Gatwick, all closed with no fuel left. Madness. Gonna be interesting getting to a work meeting in Derby on Monday with 30 miles range left…
The gov will do anything and everything required to keep Stanlow open irrespective of Essar's problems with HMRC.
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of that refinery as a strategic national infrastructure asset.
I think this fuel shortage may turn out to be a good thing. I thought people and businesses would have changed after the first lockdown when we learned that office workers could work from home. This has quickly been forgotten and congestion/rush hours and pollution is back.
This fuel shortage may change behaviour again. There are so many solutions like zoom meetings, public transport, cycling to work. But car culture is so strong in this country.
In reality it will only be a short blip. Normal service will resume soon and the car will be king again by this time next week. What a shame.
I’ve just tried to get fuel – tried 15 garages between Redhill and Gatwick, all closed with no fuel left.
I'm in Newcastle, working on a bike race tomorrow. The fleet cars we get as officials vehicles are almost invariably supplied from whatever car dealership is sponsoring that particular race with fumes in the tank so I was genuinely worried that we wouldn't get fuel - or at least that it'd be a massive pain - but actually there's a garage right next to the hotel with no supply issues at all. No queue, straight in and it wasn't an extortionate price either.
I do wonder what the locals might think though when they see a bunch of police motos and team cars all filling their tanks there. It probably doesn't count as "essential requirement" in the grand scheme of things...
Surely you need a ticket beyond ‘HGV driver’ to unload 36,000 litres of combustible fuel?
You need your ADR ticket (stands for Accord Dangerous Routier). Takes a fair bit of training to get and is not cheap. Also needed for carrying chemicals and anything else dangerous, if a truck has the orange plaque the driver needs it, so there is competition for qualified drivers for other goods too.
I’ve just tried to get fuel – tried 15 garages between Redhill and Gatwick, all closed with no fuel left. Madness. Gonna be interesting getting to a work meeting in Derby on Monday with 30 miles range left…
If you meet anyone that you know panic-bought and didn't need to slap them in the face. My sister had to take my mum to hospital Friday for an appointment as mum's car had the fuel light on and both local stations were empty. My sister had a full tank in their small car (hadn't moved for a week as she was WFH) so she took her instead. Mum didn't find it very comfortable so was in quite a bit of pain and discomfort on the journey back. If I meet anyone who boasts about being ok with a full tank and no real reason for it I'll be very tempted to show them the error of their ways.
I think this fuel shortage may turn out to be a good thing. I thought people and businesses would have changed after the first lockdown when we learned that office workers could work from home. This has quickly been forgotten and congestion/rush hours and pollution is back.
This fuel shortage may change behaviour again. There are so many solutions like zoom meetings, public transport, cycling to work. But car culture is so strong in this country.
Contrary to popular belief not everyone works in an office or sits in front of bookcase in a zoom meeting for a living.
People don't sit in front of a bookcase for a living.
frankconway
Full MemberYes, the shortfall was reported as 100k; why, then, offer an ‘opportunity’ to only 5k?
The shortfall is 100K but we've been short of drivers for most of the decade; in 2014 it was 40000 IIRC. Like just about everything else, government and business has looked at the ever-growing shortage and since it'd never yet become a crisis, decided to let it keep getting worse.
(this also fuels a lot of the public response, "all of europe has a shortage"- true, but they're mostly in the same place that we were for years, of having a shortage but not a critical one. It's the difference between being putting the last bog roll on the hanger, and wiping your arse with your blue passport)
Don't know how many drivers we need right now to push the shortage back out of crisis levels so that it can be ignored again for a couple of years. Not 100000. But of course it's not just the number of drivers, it's the fact that post-brexit we need more.
The local foodbank has asked whether my cargobike project can go and help out with deliveries with our e-cargobikes as their volunteers are too worried about using up their fuel to drive.
I’d say that’s a win for the environment right there.
Also, the smugness levels of filtering past a petrol station queue on an e-cargobike are off the scale.
Just think.
If enough people panic buy, none of the teachers will have fuel (see mrs_oab, working at rural school 40 miles away this next week) won't get in and they will all be homeschooling again.
Librarians do, kinda
Just think.
If enough people panic buy, none of the teachers will have fuel (see mrs_oab, working at rural school 40 miles away this next week) won’t get in and they will all be homeschooling again.
Copy that to A B De P Johnson (man of the people). Not only has he caused the shortage, his erosion of public confidence in the apparatus of the state for his own benefit is also coming home to roost as people don't trust a word anyone in power says any more. You can't give the impression that a system of government is utterly rigged and corrupt when it suits you and then put that genie back in the bottle.
This is unravelling fast and it is going to get worse before anyone important has the balls to call it for what it is. They're still running scared of the racists.
Yeah to deliver fuel you need and ADR just to carry it, then job training to operate the tanker, induction and loading training for the refinery and a PDP (petroleum drivers passport) in order to actually deliver the load and get anywhere near a refinery.
ADR is £500+, PDP I’m not sure about as it was always provided by the companies I worked for.
Experience is priceless in the fuel delivery business, 6 pots on a big tanker. All with potentially different products, all products flammable and do not put the wrong product in the forecourt tank.. major issues if that happens. Then there’s driving the vehicle, 36,000 Litres of fuel moves around a fair bit when on the move even with separate pots and baffles fitted.
I saw a fella in a small hatchback earlier with the boot absolutely full of large metal jerrycans, filling them all at the petrol station at the end of our street. Perhaps he is an unprepped prepper?
Experience is priceless in the fuel delivery business
There was a HGV instructor interviewed this morning who said that the very idea that you’re just going to rush someone through a test then stick them in the cab of an expensive artic, potentially delivering dangerous loads is absolutely preposterous
No employer will touch them and they wouldn’t get insured anyway
There is no short term fix to this. And no fleets of EU drivers will be arriving to sort it out either
This is all Borises Brexit bullshit unravelling before the eyes of even the hardest of thinking
Can’t argue with that Binners.
Bought a new car today, can't drive it because of the Muppets that have drained every fuel station for miles around. 🥺
Oh well I guess I can sit in it tomorrow and make Brum Brum noises (and figure out what all the buttons do I suppose!)
Worse things happen at sea!
I’ve been trying to work out whether the governments statement not to panic buy fuel was just a clever ploy to distract us from the shambles of a UK/US post Brexit trade deal calamity that BJ has been involved in ....or whether it was just simple stupidity on their part..
Ooh look, squirrel,,,
It’s just utter incompetence. They have no clue how to sort this shit out.
This is all the result of them winning a vote they never believed, or wanted to win
If you want an explanation for the mess this country is now in, then it is perfectly summarised by the look on the faces of Johnson and Gove on the morning of the referendum result.
Tells you everything you need to know
A look that says “oh shit!” Because they were now going to be expected to deliver the total cloud-cuckooland bollocks they promised
It’s been a total cluster-**** from that day on. And it’s only going to get worse. These clowns didn’t have a plan five years ago and they have no more of one now. They’re making it up as they go along, on the hoof, and unfortunately they’re a bunch of morons who literally couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery
Exactly what binners said above, the look on their faces when the vote was announced was akin to asking them eat a shit sandwich with a side order of more shit followed by a shit drink then a dunk in the shit tank.
They thought a “failed” Brexit vote would merely split the Tory party into a movement they could manipulate for their own personal needs, they didn’t expect to win and thus had no ****ing idea nor any semblance of a cohesive plan of restructuring the entire uk supply chain never mind a passing consideration to the bit of a mess of other issues, they’ve had 5 ****ing years to come up with a plan and yet here we are…………utterly ****ed by this crowd of grifters masquerading as a government.
I need more whisky…………….
Edit : dunno where “the bit of a mess” comes from?, it’s not in my typed out text?
As far as the disaster capitalists who wanted (in fact needed, the clue is in their name ffs) Brexit and the chaos that would inevitably follow it are concerned - this situation (and what happened/didn't happen on the US trip) both show that things are going exactly as they planned don't they?
The UK has a highly resilient supply chain, which is why it hasn't falllen over sooner.
I find it most concerning that the short term cashhose is used to put out fires without adressing systemic problems.
how did you become bankrupt? very slowly and then all at once.
dunno where “the bit of a mess” comes from?, it’s not in my typed out text?
@somafunk it's filterese for fustercluck
I've said before my daughter works at a posh people's supermarket and used to get abuse for asking people to wear masks / one person only when she had to do door duty.
Her friend works at Sainsbury, and because of the fuel situation yesterday had to do the queue at the petrol station, explaining why there was no petrol and diesel was now being rationed only to emergency services.
Absolute dogs abuse apparently. 'Move those ****ing cones or I'll ****ing run you over' being a highlight from a particularly irate middle aged woman.
She didn't vote for Brexit, she was too young. She's had nothing to do with wages policy in the transport industry. She didn't make the decision to close the fuel station or arrange the rationing policy. She was just explaining to people why it's more important that ambulances can move about than your SUV is brimmed for the school run next week. As if it needed explaining.
Well done Britain, I'm so proud of what you've become.
Well done Britain, I’m so proud of what you’ve become.
Grass is greener and all that as I expect living in any other country for a length of time you would soon see those countries are full of ****ers too, but my guess would be UK and US would be at the top of the ****er league. Horrible countries.
Well done
BritainEngland, I’m so proud of what you’ve become.
Absolute dogs abuse apparently. ‘Move those * cones or I’ll * run you over’ being a highlight from a particularly irate middle aged woman
As terrible as this is, it's not really anything new.
I used to do stewarding when I was younger. Worked mainly at football stadiums, but also Lords, The Oval, Farnborough air show, Wembley stadium etc.
As soon as you told people they weren't allowed to go a particular way or do a particular thing the abuse would start.
And quite amazing how horrible & rude 'normal' people can be too 'the little guy'.
The funniest was the outrage from the posh cricket fans when you told them they couldn't take that mountain of booze into the cricket ground.
It always followed the same pattern too:
- I've always been let in before with this much. No you haven't. The qty permitted is clearly written on your ticket.
- Go on mate, just let me in. Nope, I'll get sacked.
- I want to speak to your supervisor. Ok.
- Followed by fruity language and abuse once they realised they weren't gonna get their way....
I'm in Premier Inn and the chef is very late because hes had to cycle in.
I think we are back to the 1950's with rationed fuel and food, electric milkfloats, working locally / home with dad reading newspapers over breakfast because there's not enough 'lectric to charge the ipad. Kids will have oranges for Christmas.
Thats progress for you.
Just think.
If enough people panic buy, none of the teachers will have fuel (see mrs_oab, working at rural school 40 miles away this next week) won’t get in and they will all be homeschooling again.
Oh or the doctor or nurse that might save your life when you have COVID
But the strange thing is people are happy to panic buy fuel when there is a shortage, but there is no panic about the shortage of doctors/nurses/hospital beds!
And no overwhelming public support to get them a pay rise
I was lucky enough to find a petrol station that didn't have a 30 minute queue yesterday. In and out in 5 minutes.
They were, however, rationing petrol to £30 per transaction.
I hate being told what to do 😏
Well done
BritainEngland, I’m so proud of what you’ve become.
Not sure Scotland is exempt?
And I see the British Army is driving the Scottish ambulances this week.
Go SNP!
I'll get my coat....
But the strange thing is people are happy to panic buy fuel when there is a shortage, but there is no panic about the shortage of doctors/nurses/hospital beds!
Good point
There was a HGV instructor interviewed this morning who said that the very idea that you’re just going to rush someone through a test then stick them in the cab of an expensive artic, potentially delivering dangerous loads is absolutely preposterous
No employer will touch them and they wouldn’t get insured anyway
Normal times would mean any new passes are stuck on the agency circuit for 12 months gaining experience and waiting for the company insurers to agree to them being on the books. In that 12 months you get all the crap jobs and the worst truck in the fleet. Even now that I passed just over 3 months ago and have been driving via agency that whole time am I starting to even be considered for a lot of companies, purely down to the fact I have 8 years as a 7.5t driver on top. Any new pass will really struggle to get any decent work for the first few months, let alone anything like tanker work.
This cannot be fixed with short-term visas and fast-track testing. This winter is going to be tough.
Not sure Scotland is exempt?
We're not, plenty of idiots up here as well.
How long before we start seeing fuel for sale by the Jerry can on FB Marketplace?
I wonder how many EV's have been sold on the back of this?
I wonder how many EV’s have been sold on the back of this?
Great. A rise in electricity usage when some of our ability to import is down, coupled with a 'hiccup' over nuclear not being built and a Conservative energy policy focussed on things like fracking rather than energy efficiency or renewables.
working locally / home with dad reading newspapers over breakfast
sounds quite nice, actually.
Not sure the EV owners will be too happy either when their elec supplier goes bust (as has happened to me this week) and the only tariffs they can find are double the price.
It’s really strange, we own 6 Shell petrol stations across the Midlands. Currently our deliveries are being made as per existing schedules.
The largest/main petrol station (on a busy road outside Oxford) ran out of fuel by 4pm on Friday. Delivery was made at 1am on Friday night. I’ve not checked stock levels as away this weekend, but CCTV has shown massive queues waiting to get on to the forecourt yesterday morning. Most of the people I’ve spoken to in the industry are doing what they can to keep the price down. We’ve also added a £30 max limit, but that’s tough for people who have large distances to travel.
I was in one of the Milton Keynes petrol stations on Sunday when a customer was kicking off as we had ran out of diesel, he said he couldn’t get any diesel in Milton Keynes and had to get home to
Manchester. Not sure why he thought it was our fault…..
At the moment we can’t add additional deliveries, just have to make do with what is scheduled. Even our smallest station (small village outside Peterborough) is still getting its scheduled deliveries.
My brother in law is a HGV driver, works for Waitrose, had a nice pay rise a couple of weeks ago, now earning £45k. He’s more than happy with that. My dad was also a HGV driver, worked on tankers for ICI, for 20 years he earned between £10 and £12k a year, retiring from driving at 55 y/o to get an easier job working for the council and paying a bit more. Growing up his HGV job was very unstable with constant takeovers and redundancies. Seems to be at last seen as an important and skilled job.
Not sure the EV owners will be too happy either when their elec supplier goes bust (as has happened to me this week) and the only tariffs they can find are double the price.
I’d still be paying less than I was for fuel.
Petrol tanker drivers have an ADR qualification as well as a HGV licence. They need this for them to drive fuel tanker lorries.
There is a shortage of HGV drivers. That's a true fact.
However, HGV drivers can't drive a petrol tanker lorry without having an ADR qualification.
The UK had ADR drivers last week. Nothing changed much in a week. Maybe some holiday or some sickness but not, I doubt a dramatic change.
The ADR drivers that were driving last week are probably driving this week delivering fuel so nothing changed much.
The petrol panic we are now experiencing is all down to media hype.
It's not because of Brexit, because all the EU drivers went back to Europe which is some of the reasons being banded about.
These EU HGV drivers left months ago, and yet the country was still getting fuel without problems up until today.So what's changed? NOTHING !!
Apart from the disgraceful media hype and scaremongering to make news to sensationalise the fact that a couple of petrol stations were getting a late delivery so they closed temporarily.
The result of the media scaremongering!!
Massive panic and chaos by everyone which is now causing a shortage of fuel until the ADR drivers, that we already had delivering fuel a few days ago, can deliver again.
The media should be fined and penalised, severely for publicising false news and creating the crazy situation that has been going on all today. Disgusting. They should hold their heads in shame.(Copied and re-posted for general info.)
I’m not sure I entirely agree with this. If the general public were not idiots too it wouldn’t be so bad
Yeah I’ve seen that doing the rounds. Of course brexit is part of the problem, it’s took longer for the effect as we’ve had 18 months of people working mainly from home and not travelling far.