Petrol and diesel set to be the new bog roll. Road Warriors unite! 🚙

Emphasised it was a result of a lack of drivers, not supply etc.

Semantics. Think of Turkeys… if we have thousands of them running around, but don’t have enough of the people that form the supply chain to get one to your fridge, you have no Turkey to cook. If there’s plenty of petrol/diesel, but we don’t have enough of the people that form the supply chain to the forecourt, then you can’t fill up.

Sit tight, hold out on refuelling as long as you can, things will be fine soon enough. There will be more supply issues again in future, but people should be calmer next time, when they come as less of a surprise, and people are reassured that they will be temporary. We just have to get used to the reality of Brexit Britain. It would be easier if people weren’t still being told everything is going to improve, when the reality is that we need to be more resilient consumers, now that our supply chains are less reliable and we have less flexibility to make adjustments to keep them flowing.

Sitting in a queue in a car is bonkers to me yet hundreds of thousands of us do it every day and never question why.

Because we’ve all been drip fed adverts and magazines and newspapers and all that shizzle in which the almighty motor car has been promoted right left and centre as the single shiny object to show off your success with.

Arriving without your status penis is simply not going to occur to anyone who has spent the entire rest of their lives consuming a diet of four wheel fashion.

We nearly got caught out in the camper this weekend, coming home form holiday. We were only an hour from home and had managed to steer clear of the news all week, so were unaware of what was going on. Happened to overhear a conversation in the pub, and realised we re low enough not to get home so would need fuel.

We left where we were on Friday and literally queued for an hour in a traffic jam because of people waiting for a petrol station 🤦‍♂️

Ended up taking the cross country route home, found a station (5th we had tried), filled up and went home. Everywhere locally all weekend was out, but thankfully we are Tesla w*nkers so not an issue now.

Quite sobering to think that loads of people are buying £10 or £15 at a time.

🤔

Plenty of people don’t have £40 cash at any one time

I’m been wondering if it’s all the fault of the media, and I really don’t know.

A bit from column A a bit from column B I think.

Perhaps it’s best to think of fuel distribution before last week being ‘adequate’ for normal demands, but thanks to Brexit having little resilience, which was essentially what was reported on (perhaps rather sensationally), but then spun into a potential “supply crisis”, which in turn became a self fulfilled prophecy because people don’t read beyond a headline.

So what should “the media” do?
Not report the fact that fuel supply was essentially in a delicate balance due in no small part to a diminished pool of skilled labour, traceable (at least in part) back to Brexit?

Or keep schtum for fear of exposing our once great nation’s weakened state?

It’s an editorial decision, but once one outlet has chosen to run such a story, everyone else will follow suit and the panic buying is triggered.

Last time I filled the van, it cut off at £99…

Quite sobering to think that loads of people are buying £10 or £15 at a time.

🤔

Plenty of people don’t have £40 cash at any one time

At what point do you think the government will ever be able to instigate the post brexit import checks they keep deferring?

First drive into work for me, in ages (I’ve only been into the office twice since April 2020).
Apart from the HGVs and a few other ‘fuddy duddys’ I was the slowest vehicle on the road sitting at 60mph.
I even got overtaken by a pick-up truck towing a caravan.
Maybe if people slowed down a bit, they wouldn’t have to queue to brim their tanks…..

66.6mpg, in case you were wondering 😉

I am supposed to be back in the office on Thursday, although if I can’t fill up this evening it will be touch & go whether I’ll be able to. Might have to drive halfway & cycle the rest, which is quite pleasant but takes up a chunk of time.

The others all have long range new cars (Tesla, Kia and Hyundai) and use them for every journey, even ones they used to walk before.

In London, there are a lot of people trading in / selling their ICE cars for EVs in advance of the ULEZ expanding out to the North & South Circulars in October for this very reason – to keep on driving.

Clearly the money isn’t an issue if you can afford a new EV (even on a lease deal), it’s just seen a s away to “beat” the ULEZ charge. Media as usual have been doing their standard thing about “the hard-working motorist seen as a cash cow” to stoke things up a bit.

Because we’ve all been drip fed adverts and magazines and newspapers and all that shizzle in which the almighty motor car has been promoted right left and centre as the single shiny object to show off your success with.

I think this is a deliberately cynical interpretation of how people operate.

People use cars all the time because they have cars, and then they get cars because they use them all the time. It’s easier than walking, cycling or getting the bus. It’s that simple.

And small companies struggling to recover from Covid? Fuel is one of our biggest expenses.A tank full might last two or 3 days. There isn’t at present a suitable electric alternative for our vehicles.

So sounds like you “need” the fuel, and would still buy it at double today’s prices, and have to suck that up for a week. Is that really that much worse than the chaos of not knowing if you can get the fuel you need or driving around for 2 hrs and sitting in a queue for hours.

I guess what surprised me though is that the prices have gone up a few pence rather than profiteering on desperation / managing supply (I don’t believe the garages are doing this because they are worried about a carer affording the fuel to visit old Elsie or your business’ post covid viability) – I must be missing something.

“ So what should “the media” do?
Not report the fact that fuel supply was essentially in a delicate balance due in no small part to a diminished pool of skilled labour, traceable (at least in part) back to Brexit?”

I think that would have been the responsible thing to do.

There are c8,300 petrol stations and the supply constraint is reported to have impacted the low tens of those / 0.3%.

On any given day some petrol stations are closed for refurbishment, tank inspections, new pumps being installed etc etc – the number is probably the same.

If we take another sector, is it national news if 0.3% of schools, GP surgeries or corner shops are running at reduced capacity or at worst, shut for a day or two?

When you have a situation where the public has no confidence in the ability of government/private industry to maintain essential supply chains, then this kind of behaviour is inevitable. People have noted earlier fuel/bog roll shortages, they understand that, in the short term, things will be scarce, and are determined not to be caught on the wrong side of that scarcity.

Next time around it will be worse, because people have run out of fuel, or spent Sunday searching for it, and don’t want to be in that position again.

Labelling it as entirely ‘panic buying’ is a misunderstanding. Sensible people now understand the pattern, and take steps to make sure they have what they need.

Likewise, blaming the media is, for the most part, another get-out clause for politicians who have been repeatedly warned of problems in a key industry over the past few years, and failed to act.

Pieface
Free Member

One thing (for me) that this highlights was that a successful Brexit required a major overhaul of our national infrastructure and skills base, after decades of underinvestment.

Yup. But since the only way to win the referendum was to lie and pretend that brexit would be easy and straightforward, that was never going to happen. And then the general election was won with “oven ready brexit” and doubled down on that.

Even if this government had the foresight to see what was needed and the competence to deliver it, they would never lift a finger to do anything about it.

People use cars all the time because they have cars, and then they get cars because they use them all the time. It’s easier than walking, cycling or getting the bus. It’s that simple.

We’ve also designed infrastructure to benefit the motorist and penalise other users such as cyclists, even if ‘all things being equal’ your average punter would prefer a car.

I guess what surprised me though is that the prices have gone up a few pence rather than profiteering on desperation / managing supply (I don’t believe the garages are doing this because they are worried about a carer affording the fuel to visit old Elsie or your business’ post covid viability) – I must be missing something.

What you’re missing (and I suspect, the only reason it hasn’t been done) is that price gouging (ie, whacking the prices up at a time of short supply / high demand) is illegal.

Yep, cars are great which is why they are so popular. Public transport would have to be unbelievably good to even start to compete with personal transport.

Just like bog rolls. No-one shat any more as a consequence of having 3 months worth of bog rolls in the cupboard.

True. But if you have a spare room full of the finest kitten soft arse paper, then you might treat yourself to an extra wipe or two, just to be on the safe side.

If you win power by eroding the public’s confidence in authority (elites, experts etc) then you cannot be surprised when they don’t trust you in a crisis. See lockdown breakers, antivaxers and panic buyers.

There is a special place in hell for these fraudsters who have done this.

As kelvin noted above, this is the reality of Brexit Britain. The only real question is how much are people willing to put up with before they’ll face this reality? Brexit was a terrible idea, is now, and always will be.

The trouble is that ‘resilience’ comes in many forms – some of which are counterproductive. You’d be daft to let your fuel gauge drop below half now, so there will be behavioural changes as people adopt the approach of topping up rather than running down and refilling.

Debate the smaller individual vs societal conundrums all you like, but there is one salient point:

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Should instigate a minimum purchase of £50. See how many drivers really want to pay an effective price of £5-10 for a litre of fuel. Lower values for two wheels of course – who obviously can’t be part of the problem.

Just like bog rolls. No-one shat any more as a consequence of having 3 months worth of bog rolls in the cupboard.

No, but there were loads of blokes ” working from home” 😉

Just saying like….

Labelling it as entirely ‘panic buying’ is a misunderstanding. Sensible people now understand the pattern, and take steps to make sure they have what they need.

Indeed. What’s barmy for a population is sensible for individuals. And the lesson is: if you’re going to ‘panic’ make sure you beat everyone else to it.

There will be more supply issues again in future, but people should be calmer next time,

That’s hopeful!

But if you have a spare room full of the finest kitten soft arse paper, then you might treat yourself to an extra wipe or two, just to be on the safe side.

Boris promised me unicorns, blue passports, sunlit uplands, and no risk of poke-through because I’m skimping on bog roll.

I think this is a deliberately cynical interpretation of how people operate.

Fairly straightforward interpretation of how corporations operate. Remember they do so with knowledge of all the psychologic tricks, the market research, the budget to get propaganda to you. Most people operate with only their “common sense” and probably half aware at best, i.e. are basically open goals when it comes to this stuff.

Once you’ve got everyone hooked on heroin driving, their jobs are serviced by driving, their towns designed for driving, their lives essentially are different because of driving.

I do get that they are useful. So is heroin (well, derivatives thereof, in a medical sense). That doesn’t stop either being addictive.

There will be more supply issues again in future, and people will panic exactly as much as this time.

FTFY?

People panic buying, well that has been happening since people.

Last ice age, there was a run on mammoth, lucky for me my ancestors got in first and beat the rush, they got to live.

Indeed. What’s barmy for a population is sensible for individuals. And the lesson is: if you’re going to ‘panic’ make sure you beat everyone else to it.

Even more so when I didn’t vote for it.

There should be two queues at the filling stations. Remain and Leave. Leave get a reduced selection of pumps. Remain get a greater selection. Both sides will have got what they voted for. Job jobbed.

The Leave queue get an added bonus, though, they get a scratchcard with a racist joke on it, to keep them amused as they wait. There’s ten to collect and if you get all ten you get a VHS of ‘Til Death Us Do Part’.

Labelling it as entirely ‘panic buying’ is a misunderstanding. Sensible people now understand the pattern, and take steps to make sure they have what they need.

Exactly. The only true panic buying that’s been on show are the folks with jerry cans or empty plastic water bottles, which is a small minority. Topping your car up to a full tank when there is news of potential shortages is just a completely rational reaction.

Although I have to say it’s quite an eye-opener that a relatively subtle shift in behaviour can cause such significant issues.

@i_scoff_cake

Where we’re going, we might need woad.

Although I have to say it’s quite an eye-opener that a relatively subtle shift in behaviour can cause such significant issues.

That’s JIT supply chains for you. It is optimised for maximum choice and convenience when applied to retail rather than intra-process in manufacturing.

Throw a racist/xenophobic tantrum that **** part of the process up then the whole thing falls over. The ultimate end point is less choice and convenience or increased prices (or both). But Project Fear and all that…

@i_scoff_cake

<pedant>

Fusion powers the time circuits and the flux capacitor. But the internal combustion engine runs on ordinary gasoline, it always has. There’s not going to be a gas station around here until sometime in the next century. Without gasoline, we can’t get the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour.

</pedant>

God I love those movies far too much.

How many EU tanker drivers left? Does anyone even know?

Although I have to say it’s quite an eye-opener that a relatively subtle shift in behaviour can cause such significant issues.

I think its speaks to the wider issue of JIT supply lines that have been exposed by the pandemic & brexit

‘efficiencies’ have been made to the extent that there is basically no slack in our supply chains, see also horrenndous working conditions and pay for many, including truckers

‘efficiencies’ have been made to the extent that there is basically no slack in our supply chains, see also horrenndous working conditions and pay for many, including truckers

Yup. JIT was originally intra-process manufacturing. But it was bastardised into retail supply chains to maximise choice and availability. Brexit will continue to pull cards out of the house of cards each time it is rebuilt. If it ever is. Or we could decide to grow up.

🤷‍♂️

Public transport would have to be unbelievably good to even start to compete with personal transport.

Or personal transport would need to become prohibitively expensive, restricted in access and inconvenient to park etc.

Stuck on the a413 as queue for petrol station is blocking the road in both directions

Or we could decide to grow up.

How do you expect that to work?

Earlier today a logistics specialist referred to Just in Case; haven’t heard that in the context of supply chains for some time.
Coming next…Just too Late.

How do you expect that to work?

Renegotiate a softer Brexit. Apply to rejoin the EU.

Just two of the myriad possibilities that exist for ‘not be childish’.

Pretty much anything is better than the shitshow we are currently mired in.

**** that ‘will of the people’ nonsense. It was tried. It didn’t work. Time to sort something that does.