There wasn't one, but there will be by Monday, because my fellow brit is now causing one. How in god's name did I end up in a country with so many idiots
Wish I had an Uzi, to perform a fuel station queue driveby, will the courts forgive me or praise me for culling the dim witted?
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I'm with you all the way. I was nearly empty this pm and had to queue for fifteen minutes at Morrisons in Haverfordwest, normally it's straight to a pump. Nearby Tesco had to close for a time, not because their tanks had run dry but to control the volume of traffic spilling back onto two roads.
As soon as the papers arrived at the shop this morning one look at the hysterical headlines was enough to tell anyone that the stuff was going to hit the fan. And the Beeb and ITV are just as bad, both were dribbling at the mouth on their 10pm news programs last night.
There isn't even a chuffing shortage of the stuff, it's just taking a day longer to arrive at some petrol stations. Nothing yer average Brit likes as much as a good panic.
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Diesel/Petrol is the new bog roll.
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No massive queues yet round here. I'm out and about on Monday, I'll see if there's any fuel left by then!
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Local BBC news, look East headline,. " Government Ministers meeting to discuss petrol stations closing due to fuel shortage caused by delivery drivers"
Not. Petrol Stations are closing because of panic buying by a stupid population
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Indeed; the queues at petrol stations round here are bonkers. I wouldn’t mind, but they’re blocking roads and queuing for miles. Haven’t seen anything like it since the problems in 2004 was it? When I think there was a strike, but can remember. At least the idiots today are being fleeced; the Esso stations at Tangmere (A27) and Eastergate (A29j have put their prices up to £1.499 a litre for unleaded. And I don’t blame them as people are happy to pay. Still £1.33 at the others I drove past…for the time being at least…
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Saw modest queues around Wokingham this morning, and I've just been up to west London and expected to see more so up there, but although the forecourts were busy there were no significantly queues. Lots of traffic though!!
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>Saw modest queues around Wokingham this morning,..
Mrs K called at Sainsbury's this afternoon for some weekend shopping. Queues at the fuel forecourt were already holding people up trying to get into the car park.
In the store, despite the "Sorry" stickers on the fresh pasta and fruit juice shelves they'd managed to deliver enough Christmas tins of Celebrations and Quality Street to create an obstacle course in the entrance.
It's almost comical to watch the big retailers whinging about the lack of drivers and trying to ignore the fact that they are partly responsible. They were happy to get rid of their own drivers and contract out large parts of their transport and distribution. They were happy to screw those contractors for the lowest possible price thereby keeping drivers wages at rock bottom. They didn't care that their contractors were having to rely on Eastern European HGV drivers because it was no longer an attractive choice of employment for younger folks and they couldn't afford to train new blood anyway.
And now they're whinging for the Govt. to dig them out of the hole they helped create to save a few bucks?
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Blame the consumer who demands the lowest prices and is prepared to drive 5 miles further for 10 pence off their total shop
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You might think ^he's exaggerating, but my wife's grandfather would drive around Bexhill for 10 minutes looking for a parking meter with some parking time left on it.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 24 Sep 21 at 20:59
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I reckon it's all due to some geezer from overseas who's driving 'round the country in a gas guzzling Merc AMG.
:-)
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Yesterday I needed to fill up. I went past a Jet station which had a Not-In-Use notice on each pump. At the next, which was ASDA, I found myself behind 2 women with a Mini busily filling 4 or 5 plastic cans. I wondered why as their dress and the car didn't seem to indicate a lawn-mowing business. Now I know!
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The best solution to fuel crises was proposed by the late Edward de Bono. Rather than set a maximum amount you could buy (the obvious rationing approach) he said there should be a minimum. People could effectively only get fuel to replace what they had used. The country’s stock wouldn’t be sitting in the full tanks of millions of cars.
I know there are practical difficulties but he had a point.
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To all of you who are panic buying.
Make sure you also stack up on condoms so that you don't produce any more idiots.
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There is a logical inconsistency in the blame game:
People are "stupid" and should be blamed for creating the problem they are individually trying to solve - fuel shortages through unnecessarily topping up tanks.
But the media are responsible for feeding the "stupid people" the line that there are fuel shortages, conjuring the impression that if you don't get a 95RON fix, you and your car will grind to a halt
People are stupid for believing an irresponsible media.
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I'm a HGV driver in Scotland and the problem we now have is we can't fill our trucks up because the forecourts are either out of fuel or too busy. I have a key fuel card which i can only use at certain
Retailers so makes it more difficult to fill up,we can't just move on to the next
One. When i do finally find one they don't have HGV pumps or the truck is
to tall to fit under the roofs.
I Have a 260 litre tank and on a average day use about 140 to 170 litres so I need to
fill up at the end of shift or start everyday. This morning at the station we use all the
time a Shell had no diesel so made my day harder later on looking for fuel.
Iv had my truck from new since 2018 and never knew where the low fuel light was until
this afternoon.
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FFS this is Settle. One expensive coop petrol station.
I won’t go into detail but Friday AM I volunteer at a local charity sorting donations. Outside.
We often get wet.
One of our volunteers, a farming lass who works 12+ hours a day was apoplectic at the queues of old folks filling up with £10 of fuel this AM when her tank was dry and she daren’t run it on red diesel.
She did mention Honda Jazz. Several times.
Queues back onto the road necessitating folks driving the wrong side of the traffic island to get past.
Who are these Cupid stunts ?
I’m with Z on this. Idiots.
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I wonder how many of these 'panickers' are now wandering around with a tankful of E10?
How long does it take to 'go off'?
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I dislike visiting fuel stations so I tend to fill up when the tank is on its last "notch". Both other drivers have got in to the same habit.
I have about half a tank which is 250 miles and both Mrs and Miss Z have 8/10 full tanks having filled up two weeks ago.
So we will be avoiding the queues for a while yet thank goodness.
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So for long Boris and his sidekicks have given messages that have turned out to be lies.
From £350m on busses to shaking hands with Covid patients and claiming Covid is nothing to worry about. And as recently as his American trip where his claims of what was discussed were denied by the Americans.
So for once, the people of UK have chosen not to believe his people when they say there are no fuel shortages.
And the press just love a panic story. Absolutely love it. They feed off it.
And now tomorrow’s press is saying that Boris is going to save the day by doing a u turn and granting visas for foreign lorry drivers.
If I was cynical I would say it was all a plan. They realised they have cocked up with brexit but can’t admit it. So relax the visa rules by blaming this on the UK consumers panic buying. Of course it’s not just fuel, supermarkets have warned Govt as recently as this week that there isn’t enough drivers to deliver the food to stock the shelves. And of course with Xmas round the corner we will soon have Xmas is cancelled headlines. Same as him and his press have been blaming GPs for the NHS crisis.
It’s always someone else to blame, never them.
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As far as I understand it and have read, issuing visa won't achieve much. There's a shortage of hgv drivers across Europe just as much as here.
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>> FFS this is Settle. One expensive coop petrol station.
>> I won’t go into detail but Friday AM I volunteer at a local charity sorting
>> donations. Outside.
Stayng in a holiday cottage this week, have to go back to Cambridge today. So queued behind two cars for ten minutes to fill yesterday morning at that very station in Settle. I should have waved.
By the time I was done the queue was in the road and growing.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Sat 25 Sep 21 at 07:20
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>>
>> Stayng in a holiday cottage this week, have to go back to Cambridge today. So
>> queued behind two cars for ten minutes to fill yesterday morning at that very station
>> in Settle. I should have waved.
>>
>> By the time I was done the queue was in the road and growing.
Crankcase. Hope you had a safe journey home and didn’t get stuck too long in the gas work queues through Gargrave. Had to take my old mum there yesterday for an afternoon dental appointment..50 mins rather than the usual 20.
Hope you enjoyed your stay in my part of the world...I volunteer Friday AM at the Settle Pool cp, sorting donations to our Pool charity shop between our two 20’ storage containers. I got wet in the wind tunnel yesterday AM.
They were still queuing out onto the road for fuel late afternoon as I walked past en route to early doors at one of my local watering holes.
ps. Queues again this AM !
Last edited by: legacylad on Sat 25 Sep 21 at 09:12
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Bit late to reply, LL, sorry. Not been queuing for fuel since, just been busy doing other things than C4P.
Didn't get to Gargrave at all. Nearly walked to it from our cottage in Airton (next to the Farm Shop, really jolly nice), but alas, wasn't to be. Great part of the world, need to go again and do all the things we couldn't this time.
A gazillion little scooters turned up whilst we were in Settle on Sunday - is that a regular thing?
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>> Iv had my truck from new since 2018 and never knew where the low fuel
>> light was until
>> this afternoon.
>>
Self employed Chris? Owner Driver?
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Self employed Chris? Owner Driver?
No full time driver for a nation wide metal and plastics company.
Iv driven the same truck from new since 2018 when the fleet was renewed.
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One answer to the alleged fuel shortage could be for all vehicles to be fitted with a collapsable sail on their roofs.
With the wind behind you, I could see this working quite well. It works for yachts, so why not cars.
It worked quite well for the natives in The Martian Chronicles. Worth con-sidering IMO.
Um, yeah.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58687026
I see lots of talk of drivers coming from europe or not, drawn on politcal lines.
However there's very little talk about why tens of thousands of people have left the industry and not returned. This has been known about for years, there's reports from select committees over the years highlighting the same problems now, very little recruitment of anyone under 30, poor conditions, frictions at many RDCs, no where decent to stop overnight etc.
So there's lots of talk from RHA etc about how to get through to christmas, but what about the next 10 years, the average age of a wagon driver is 55 years old, who is going to be driving lorries in 2030? What are they doing about that? Perhaps there's been lots of plans laid out?
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BP highlighted the lack of drivers for short deliveries to their outlets.!
Their own fault - BP used to employed loyal drivers, well paid, BP Pension etc etc. Getting a BP driver job was deemed a top driving job.
To save money BP have employed 4/5 contractors nationwide driving tankers - saves money!
Contractor pays less, ? Pension? drivers come & go NO Loyalty................
BP saved money until driver shortages hit the fan
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BP had to close 4 or 5 station with a few dozen more with limited supplies out of 1400 fuel stations. I wonder why it was all hyped up?
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Good point Sooty. There's a chart here showing the reasons for the drop in driver numbers www.bbc.co.uk/news/57810729 Retirement is the single biggest cause of the shortage of drivers.
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 25 Sep 21 at 09:42
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I note there's no mention of working conditions etc, although that survey was answered by employers rather than employees.
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To attract more drivers in the future money will need to increase. This is already happening with reports of £'000 sign on fees, pay increases, more training provision etc. Long term I do not believe it is an issue.
But it is plain fatuous of the government to put out a story that there is no shortage, only a lack of drivers. To the consumer the issue is "I can't fill my tank".
Whether it is drivers, OPEC, tankers, or even Greta blockading the refinery, IT IS A SHORTAGE.
The only issue is how it is fixed.
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Driving through our local town last night at around 9.30 pm, ( no, I wasn't looking for fuel ;-) ) both of the places (supermarkets) that sell fuel had problems, Sainburys had huge queues and a sign informing customers that they had no diesel, and the Morrisons forecourt was closed altogether.
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Looks like it's started round here as well, one of petrol stations nearest us is now closed.
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Well you wouldn't have known that there were any problems with drivers coming from Europe last weekend when I came back from my MiL's down in Folkestone...
The M20 was absolutely crammed on the Sunday, have to say it was probably the busiest I've ever seen it for HGVs, almost spent the majority of the journey in lane two right up until where the M26 branches off.
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>>Whether it is drivers, OPEC, tankers, or even Greta blockading the refinery, IT IS A SHORTAGE.
By the government's logic there can never have been a shortage of petrol because there was always plenty in the ground.
In your list of causes you missed out so-called panic buying, or as I call it, perfectly rational behaviour. As soon as a shortage is announced, anybody sensible who needs fuel, or will do, makes sure they get there first.
My car is about 1/4 full presently, which at the moment is about a week's worth. The boss's was also low, so when I woke at 5.30 this morning I got up and went to Tesco. There were 15 cars queueing at 6am. No Momentum, and while I was there they announced that diesel was running out. I filled up with E10.
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>> In your list of causes you missed out so-called panic buying, or as I call
>> it, perfectly rational behaviour. As soon as a shortage is announced, anybody sensible who needs
>> fuel, or will do, makes sure they get there first.
Alas thats wide of the mark. Nothing rational about rushing out there, and grabbing whatever you can when you don't actually need it, ensuring that when you do need it, you cant get it.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 25 Sep 21 at 17:31
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>> Alas thats wide of the mark. Nothing rational about rushing out there, and grabbing whatever
>> you can when you don't actually need it, ensuring that when you do need it,
>> you cant get it.
OK I'm being provocative but I did say need, or will need. My car can remain 1/4 full for now, as long as we have one at the ready that's not low. I filled up the Popemobile just as I always do when it's low, and I seized the opportunity at 6am because I knew it would save me time later, and possibly avoid being left without.
It's all very well to say extra (panic) buying is what has, almost certainly, created the problem this time but you can't beat them. It's just one of those things where only cooperation will benefit everybody, but you know there will be none and the main beneficiaries of you hanging back will be the panic buyers. If I could just opt out of car use for the duration I would, but I can't, practically. So I take reasonable action to maintain my/our mobility.
Immediate rationing with exemption for essential services is perhaps the best way to manage it. Although I like the idea of a maximum purchase - £30 say. Or maybe a fixed purchase amount as Peter suggests.
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I absolutely agree with you Manatee. Much as I don't like being a hoarder or panic buyer, in situations like this it's the thing to do (up to a point). Otherwise you are the ne who will suffer, through no fault of your own.
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The simplest solution I think is not to put in a maximum purchase value, which is what some filling stations have been doing, but a minimum. Say it was £40, which is, what 30 litres? Them all those who are ‘’just rationally” (also known as panic buying) topping up their tanks would think twice. Fine, add 15 litres if you like. But it’s still £40. There is after all still plenty of petrol, and enough deliveries. The press have created a panic out of a few cancelled deliveries and closed petrol stations. The queues are primarily formed of idiots, getting in the way of those who really have empty tanks.
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Brits are world renowned for forming queues for things aren't they? :-)
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>> Brits are world renowned for forming queues for things aren't they? :-)
>>
Oh definitely. So why not charge them for the pleasure ;)
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>> IT IS A
>> SHORTAGE.
No its not, or it certainly wasnt. It is now of course for which you can blame your fellow brit, - and maybe the press.
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The oft quoted figure of 100,000 driver shortage is like a politician's promise.
BBC Radio 4's More or Less will put you right. From 11.25 if you don't want the whole half hour.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09tpk7c
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For those of us without a BBC account, what's the actual number?
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No queues a petrol stations around Reading. They're busier than usual but that's it.
I just drove straight in and on to a pump. There was just one car waiting when I left.
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Drove out to New Romney this morning to meet a mate.
There were queues at all the petrol stations that I passed and a few had "No Fuel" signs out.
Mate does volunteer patient transport to hospitals and a couple of petrol stations have fuel only for the emergency services and he has been given a "sticker" by the Kent ambulance service allowing him to use those pumps.
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Two Shell, one BP and an independent close me are all closed with 'no fuel' signs up, although the BP one has posted that they are open for NHS workers with ID so I should be ok if this goes on past next week.
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Just hauled the CCV back from the depths of the Rendlesham forest to home 138 miles in total. I had filled my empty tank up on Wednesday, no issues. Had 3/4 tank left when I departed, and I did a gentle cruise back at 57mph. (just fast enough to stop the HGVs overtaking) and I surprised myself with 21mpg average fuel consumption for the trip. Some stations had huge queues, some didnt, some were closed - didnt seem to be any pattern.
Anyway found out where all the truckers are. They are all at Furuck services, the place is heaving with trucks, I mean everywhere - parked on the verges, double parked on the access roads, parked in the caravan bays, in the car park, with more queueing to get in. Never seen so many trucks in one place.
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The disruption at Dover the other day may have caused some of that.
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Seen a couple more with no fuel signs out today, the rest had bigger than normal queues
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>> Two Shell, one BP and an independent close me are all closed with 'no fuel'
>> signs up, although the BP one has posted that they are open for NHS workers
>> with ID so I should be ok if this goes on past next week.
>>
This evening I had to call out a guy to fix SWMBO's electric " hospital bed"
( I supplied him with a house brick to aid fixing it) :-)
He had to convince a petrol station that he was a key worker for the NHS.
His company van has no obvious identification of this role.
The stations managers list did not have all such companies recognised but fortunately common sense was used and he filled up.
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Fuel stations get tanker deliveries every 2 or 3 days. These will be scheduled to ensure that with normal demand there will still be some left in the forecourt tanks - say 10-20%
Typically a car may fill its tank every 5-15 days.
So the stock of fuel in forecourt tanks is sufficient to normally fill up ~ 30% of cars.
If panic buying pushes up demand for fuel by (say) 50% over normal levels and delivery is delayed by (say) a few hours due to driver shortages, some stations will run dry.
This feeds perceptions of a shortage and more panic.
Fortunately drivers can only panic once - when the car is full they cannot buy any more. This may just be a short term problem - next week everyone will be driving around with a full tank and not need a fuel station until the following weekend!
Last edited by: Terry on Sun 26 Sep 21 at 00:31
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>> Mate does volunteer patient transport to hospitals and a couple of petrol stations have fuel
>> only for the emergency services and he has been given a "sticker" by the Kent
>> ambulance service allowing him to use those pumps.
>>
There was a very senior guy on TV this morning who was deeply involved with the planning for a previous fuel shortage situation. He suggested that Bojo should be on the box but would that help today.
Another reference to Kermit might help ?
I need two care workers, four times a day to sort out SWMBO.
They are getting low on fuel. They work for a private company.
Without them coming I will need a NHS nurse or paramedics or SWMBO in hospital.
Now what ? There are many many others needing even more help than me.
Misc items.
Come back UK HGV drivers ! firtst they need a 35 hour refresher course so stuff that !
Now hear that this esssential course is no longer required.
How many Army drivers are trained for safe fuel transfer?
Wrong fuel events up fro 25 to 250 ( per day ?)
plus Morrisons petrol station issues wrong fuel
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-11483400
markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/oil-prices-brent-wti-crude-natural-gas-shortage-energy-crunch-2021-9
Also suggestions that oil prices may rise from $80 to $100 a barrel very soon.
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Sky News reporting that the Govt. will be issuing short-term visas to HGV drivers from the EU and will tarin (sic) up to 4000 new drivers.
Another knee-jerk reaction from Boris.
Last edited by: Kevin on Sun 26 Sep 21 at 07:48
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Very good, as are the comments which follow it.
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The Grocer, now there is a blast from the past.
When I worked in Safeway it was the main trade magazine. Every week they would do an unannounced visit to a supermarket and check for stock availability as well as marking the ship on several criteria.
If it was your shop that got the visit, it could literally make or break your career, that was how much focus and importance was put on it from on high.
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Just to add to the mix. Essar at the Stanlow refinery owe the tax man over £200m for VAT from March 2020 (every firm got a free deferral back then).
If they go pop then that puts about 15% of the UK's fuel supply at risk.
Shame really, I really enjoyed visiting them.
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A thoroughly sound analysis.
On a simplistic level it had struck me that one would expect the average age of HGV drivers to be ~40-45, not 55 as reported.
This suggests that there has been insufficient recruitment and training over 15-20 years. The shortfall in new drivers was partly covered by recruitment of EU drivers. Brexit and covid have crystallised a problem that already existed.
Individual businesses in the haulage industry found it quicker and cheaper to recruit already trained drivers from EU than train new. The same pressures have created shortages in nursing and care staff with recruitment of ready trained staff from EU and the Far East.
The haulage industry together with their user base (retailers, fuel, industry) should take prime responsibility for the failures. Government, in a market based economy, could only ever have ensured a framework was in place, not actually solve the problem.
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Someone said earlier, maybe in the electricity thread, that ultimately it's the end users (us) who want everything cheap all the time which has caused problems. I would say its the same here. More so than the haulage industry. You can't blame them for acting the way they did.
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Just filled the car up again, no drama, no queue.
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I wonder how many tanker drivers have had to pass the filling stations they were destined for because the queue of cars blocked them?
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If I hear one more Govt official coming on the radio/TV saying 'don't worry there is no shortage' I'll scream!
If tankers can't get to stations to make deliveries then there needs to be communication to get police to the stations to b***** make sure they can deliver and get things moving otherwise we'll just be going around in circles.
They seem to just think it will sort itself out without any local immediate action... it won't.
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Just arrived in Pembrokeshire ,averaged 47 mpg in the CRV.
Filled up in Eastbourne on Friday , covered 340 miles so far and 204 left according to computer so not sure about getting back .
Got a bit of a shock at the end of M4 where they were charging £1.63 for diesel.
I can literally see the Milford Haven refinery across the estuary from our holiday cottage so hopefully we should be able to fill up sometime soon.
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>> I can literally see the Milford Haven refinery across the estuary from our holiday cottage
>> so hopefully we should be able to fill up sometime soon.
It doesn't get to the local garage on its own.....
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>>They seem to just think it will sort itself out without any local immediate action... it won't
Yes it will because, unlike with toilet rolls, the f.idiots will run out of anywhere to put it.
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Will stale E10 that was stored in the shed stop them ?
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>> Yes it will because, unlike with toilet rolls, the f.idiots will run out of anywhere to put it.
Exactly, though I do think that an earlier introduction of a minimum not maximum refuelling amount would have stopped thing quickly. Sure, queue if you’re desperate to top up another 10 litres. But it’s minimum £50 anyway. Paid upfront. Then the only people queuing would be those with nearly empty tanks…well, half empty maybe…
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 28 Sep 21 at 02:53
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I stuck £90 b***** quids worth in this the other day, that was a shock.
You were right in the fuel consumption though, an overall 37.1 which seems pretty good to me.
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>> I stuck £90 b***** quids worth in this the other day, that was a shock.
>>
>> You were right in the fuel consumption though, an overall 37.1 which seems pretty good
>> to me.
>>
Modern cars are really rather fuel efficient on the whole, I think, all things considered. And a benefit of having a petrol car (round here at least) is its diesel that’s run out, not petrol :)
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I intensely dislike diesel engined cars, I fail to see any attraction in them.
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Until there's a run on jerry cans...
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 28 Sep 21 at 02:54
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A couple of days ago I was next to guy in a fuel station who'd towed his boat down there to fill it so he could get more petrol. FFS.
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I have it on good authority that my local council are having to stop green refuse collections due to fuel shortage.
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The whole thing is pure media induced panic. There were no fewer tanker drivers this weekend than there were the previous one and there was no shortage then.
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>> The whole thing is pure media induced panic. There were no fewer tanker drivers this
>> weekend than there were the previous one and there was no shortage then.
Exactly.
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>> I have it on good authority that my local council are having to stop green
>> refuse collections due to fuel shortage.
>
Three neighbouring councils here stopped green waste collection 3 weeks ago due to a shortage of drivers
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>>
>> >
>> Three neighbouring councils here stopped green waste collection 3 weeks ago due to a shortage of drivers
>>
I'm not surprised they can't get drivers if they're anything like Pembs CC. During the hot spell a kindly neighbour took a tray of drinks out to the recycle crew for which they were very thankful. They had been stationary for the couple of minutes it took to drink it when the driver's phone rang and he was told the tracker had shown them to be stationary for longer than was necessary at that location and asked for the reason.
If that's the sort of crap truck drivers have to put up with it's no wonder they are leaving the industry.
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>> Three neighbouring councils here stopped green waste collection 3 weeks ago due to a shortage of drivers
>>
Yes . We gt a notification of this.
Start jumping in the rubbish bin to compress stuff and then add the garden stuff ?
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>> Yes . We gt a notification of this.
>> Start jumping in the rubbish bin to compress stuff and then add the garden stuff
>> ?
We're in a newly established Unitary Council so things like bin collection still run under 'legacy' arrangements set up by the old councils. Ours, run in house, has been OK so far but two of the other Councils who had a contract with Veolia are struggling.
Not just garden/recycling but land fill and waste food caddies are being collected late.
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>> so far but two of the other Councils who had a contract with Veolia are
>> struggling.
I think its fair to say that most of the driver shortages are where they have been contracted out. Which probably speaks volumes about how lean they run and how badly they treat their staff.
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>> Start jumping in the rubbish bin to compress stuff and then add the garden stuff
A trick i used to use was put the green waste in first, then a layer of cardboard on top, domsetic waste on top of that. It compresses down nicely.
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But nothing worse than going out to your bin after it’s been emptied to find it still half full cos you have compressed it so tight it didn’t empty!
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>> A couple of days ago I was next to guy in a fuel station who'd
>> towed his boat down there to fill it so he could get more petrol. FFS.
>>
Doesn't surprise me at all. Some people's brains are, pretty much, mush. Enough to keep them breathing unaided but not much more.
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.
Last edited by: zippy on Mon 27 Sep 21 at 23:37
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Yesterday they mentioned that the competition rules had been relaxed regarding fuel companies and delivering to stations... what does that actually mean?
It gave the impression that (for example) a Shell tanker could deliver to an empty BP station... would that be right?
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Basically they are sharing stock information.
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They can coordinate deliveries.
i.e. You deliver to your petrol stations in areas 1, 3 and 5 and we'll do ours in 2, 4 and 6. Our petrol station 7 and your petrol station 8 have enough fuel for 2 more days.
The thing is that just as the shortage isn't real it's just driven by an awful media and ridiculous consumers, these measures aren't a real solution, they'll just calm the t***s down and it'll all fix itself.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 28 Sep 21 at 08:47
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Filled up at Tescos in Pembroke Dock this morning , no queue at all and £1.348 for diesel. Happier now.
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Dont have enough to get to Pembroke dock.
Cobham services ran out of fuel yesterday evening
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I think this all started by the News running a story about (I think) BP warning the govt about shortage of drivers?
If so, would be interesting to know which party passed this to the media and why?
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It came from an industry meeting where the ongoing and developing driver situation was discussed. BP comments from that meeting were then leaked to the press. I do not know by whom, but I'd guess someone seeking 15 minutes of relevance.
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I’m alright Jack.
My super frugal 3cyl 150 horse slow coach Focus Active Estate is showing 43mpg. Full fuel tank range is circa 530/550 miles...I fill up every 3 weeks under normal circumstances, and use the bus & train for my walking and drinking soirées.
That’s the beauty of the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle and Leeds- Lancaster lines within a short walking distance.
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All of the local petrol stations to me (Chichester, A27 at Tangmere and Fontwell and the A29 at Westergate) seem to have fuel today, and while there are queues they’re not spilling out onto the roads anymore. So my ‘hang on until Wednesday’ theory might just be right…which is good, as I’ll need some petrol by then… though, whether they’re limiting purchases or not I don’t know.
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Currently at the CAMC Centenary Site in the New Forest.
Other than a message on the M40 gantries that Beaconsfield services had no diesel we saw nothing odd on the way down. BP stations on the A43 round Towcester/Brwere busier than would be normal on Sunday but not silly. Assume, in absence of signage, that Chievely and Rownhams services had supplies.
Quick trip out yesterday disclosed that Tesco in New Mllton and 2 filling stations on the outskirts of Christchurch were dry. Not sure whether to venture further or preserve what's left for going home.
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>> that Chievely and Rownhams services had supplies
They both did yesterday, certainly.
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Went up the a1 the other day in the midlands, I'd say about half the petrol stations were shut for no fuel.
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I drove Dorset - Reading - Banbury - Cambridge round trip over the weekend and Monday and encountered very few closed, many with queues and two where I filled without queuing.
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I'm away in the motorhome, and was at Salisbury until Sunday, with just about enough fuel to get me home.
Unfortunately, we were heading to Devon instead (without enough fuel to both get there and subsequently home).
I deliberately left Salisbury by a route that had several outlets before the A303, and surprisingly drove straight onto a pump at the first one. Limited to 30litres, by the time I'd fuelled and paid, the queues were onto the road in both directions.
Heading West, it was a complete mixed bag of closed stations, missing fuel types, queues, and/or seeming normality.
We pulled in at Honiton to shop, and Tesco had closed their station, but, being still marginal for getting home, and running ahead of time, I pulled in near Ashburton and joined a queue of 2 to fill up.
I wouldn't be at all concerned if I were at home; I'd just sit it out, but not having enough to get back is mildly concerning.
Anyway, 80litres is sufficient and the rest. To paraphrase the Beatles, "happiness is a full tank".
Incidentally, this is well over 40 nights away since Easter. We'd normally have spent much of that (and more) in Europe, but needs must, so the UK. We've had one day of "wash-out" in that time, though this afternoon is not great. The UK isn't all that bad (except Cheshire and Essex, of course ;-) )
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>> I pulled in near Ashburton and joined a queue of 2 to fill up
Blimey! … I've just got back from Ashburton. The rain!!
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It isn't bothering me and won't, unless they haven't fixed it by 8 Nov when I come back from portugal :-)
Oh, but then the electric car is due around that time :-)
Sunny and hot with an occasional a breeze today btw, to save you asking... :-)
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A source I know on the ground at a military installation, reports two coach loads of drivers have arrived.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 28 Sep 21 at 18:33
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Just in time to not be needed if the PRA guy on the news is right.
Got 75 miles of juice from Tesco in Edinburgh today.
£0.00
Don't tell them I went to Waitrose for my shop....
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Nowt so smug as a jock doc.
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Still no improvement where I am...
Now all five stations close to me are dry.
I'm hopefully ok until the end of the week but I'll need fuel by Saturday/Sunday.
On the other hand my wife (who also works in theatres) and son (construction) have a lot less so no idea how they will get to work unless there is a rapid improvement.
Thing is we can only go to stations after we've finished work and it seems that any fuel available during the day has gone and then you potentially have to risk burning fuel going from one station to another.
What I don't get is how are cars/vans allowed to back out onto main roads/junctions causing blockages without being moved on??? At Christmas the large shopping centre near me actively stops people queuing when the carparks are full.
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I have 88 miles of fuel in the tank. Not been seriously looking for fuel, but past two nights have taken a short drive out at about 8 at night, no fuel in my local 4 stations. Think the evening ploy is the wrong one, and I will need to start a serious search by tomorrow for the 200 miles weekend planned activity.
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Round here at least everything has looked pretty normal mid / late morning. Though at 21 mpg and a £35 max spend your 200 miles looks a bit tight…! On the plus side, from what I’ve read, diesel runs out before petrol, and unleaded runs out before super unleaded…
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>> Round here at least everything has looked pretty normal mid / late morning. Though at
>> 21 mpg and a £35 max spend your 200 miles looks a bit tight…! On
>> the plus side, from what I’ve read, diesel runs out before petrol, and unleaded runs
>> out before super unleaded…
I'm not towing this weekend, its mostly motorway - if I reign back some of the horses and proceed at a cantor not a gallop I have seen 40mpg
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Tesco Brooklands seemed to have supplies, but no queues yesterday. I didn't go into the the filling station, but that's what it looked like on a drive by.
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it was closed yesterday at 8pm. I have been told 3pm is the sweet spot when all the mummies are parked outside schools waiting foe their little dahlings
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 29 Sep 21 at 09:52
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If a station has fuel it will have a queue.
Even if people only need £15 to top off the tank, people will stop because they think it is the last fuel in town.
After a few hours that station will inevitably run out again. Queue disappears to refom at the last place that had a delivery.
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Not so.
I have now filled up three times in five days and not queued yet.
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>> I have now filled up three times in five days and not queued yet.
>>
..who lent you the car? The Queen?...
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>>
>> >> I have now filled up three times in five days and not queued yet.
>>
>> >>
>>
>> ..who lent you the car? The Queen?...
Or he's a more convincing liar than Boris.
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Haven't gone out to buy petrol on purpose, just pulled into a fuel station when I see an opportunity.
I was coming through Caversham the other day, heading towards Reading. Passed the Esso which had 6 or 7 car queues, drove 100yrds over the bridge and the BP behind the Gorge had three pumps and one car so that was easy.
Similar happened in Dorchester a couple of days later and Lee on Solent before that. Actually I think I've filled 4 times.
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>> Not so.
>>
>> I have now filled up three times in five days and not queued yet.
>>
Swallowed much petrol yet ?
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Just popped out to Tesco. No Diesel, half the 16 pumps closed, but a well marshalled 10 minute queue sees me with 70 litres of luscious E10 95 ron on board.
Weekend saved.
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>> Just popped out to Tesco. No Diesel,
Did you try looking in the aftershave aisle?
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>> >> Just popped out to Tesco. No Diesel,
>>
>> Did you try looking in the aftershave aisle?
No the Beemer wouldn't fit through the revolving door.
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>They don't fit through sliding doors either...
Or into bedrooms.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4493713.stm
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My husband thought the dog had knocked something over downstairs but as he got to the bedroom door he could see the hole in the wall and all the furniture moved.
"That's when we came downstairs and saw the car there."
Wonder what type of dog they had??
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Fairly comfortable down here with most petrol stations having supplies, though diesel pumps seem to be suffering at most places.
i joined the panic brigade yesterday and brimmed it from 2/3 full. If you can't beat 'em....
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>> i joined the panic brigade yesterday and brimmed it from 2/3 full. If you can't
>> beat 'em....
May your engine explode and cover you with semi synth, specially after your mealy mouthed words right at the top of the thread.......
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>>
>>
>> May your engine explode and cover you with semi synth, specially after your mealy mouthed
>> words right at the top of the thread.......
>>
Guilty as charged.
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>> past two nights have taken a short drive out at about 8 at night,
>> no fuel in my local 4 stations.
>>i joined the panic brigade yesterday and brimmed it from 2/3 full. If you can't beat 'em....
I wonder how much fuel is being wasted by folk driving around looking for the stuff?
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>>brimmed it from 2/3 full.
So what is reasonable?
I don't know what the Merc will take but I got £85 quid into it last week. The last few fills have been around the £45 mark so I assume about half a tank.
Is that reasonable? It felt it.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 29 Sep 21 at 22:45
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I put 57 litres in - I feel so righteous I could burst,
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No fuel of any sort in Settle for the past 48 hours.
And its 11 miles to the nearest at Ingleton or 17 to Skipton....assuming they have any. I was told they didn’t and folks were driving to Settle.
I’ve still got 300 mile range and no plans to drive anywhere.
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Mrs Z tool MIL to hospital today and filled up on the way back.
Apparently half a dozen cars waiting for four pumps and it took ten minutes.
Limited to £30.
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Ran my car as low as I dare, trundling about with the fuel light on, first station had no fuel, second had no diesel, third open but 15 mins wait.
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To be fair to myself, no fuel = no work. Leisure driving of any sort has been cancelled for the moment and Mrs O'Reliant's car hadn't moved till today since last week's Thursday shop and may well stay on the drive another week, depending.
The bike is sitting in the garage with a couple of litres in it and it will stay there till things are back to normal.
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Can’t you go shopping on the bus or train with a wheeler type thing ?
No driving = alcohol fuelled lunches. Assuming you’re not in employment.
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Clearly a lot of car journeys are unnecessary. We use our feet or bicycles for local errands, we have cars too of course, but they only get used if the journey is too long for self propulsion or the stuff that needs to be moved is too bulky or heavy.
That will be one of the reasons why there are so many "body positive" lumps of lard now too.
I may have to try to panic buy some diesel today though.
;-)
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Spoke to someone at work, had to visit 7 petrol stations, first 6 were all closed, this was last night.
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Just returned from shopping trip in south west town. Visitors planned for the week end were nervous about fuel suppied so did a small tour of some forecourts on the way.
1 closed, 1 partially open, 5 fully open, no queues, includes Sainsburys (2) Morrisons, Shell, Tescos.
It is a crisis largely created by the media on the back of a few very limited closures last week.
Panic buying was the outcome even including those who saw a queue and thought they should join it becasue in their simple minds - queue = shortage.
Conclusion - the public have endured, some genuinely inconvenienced, by reacting to events almost completely self inflicted. Perhaps we should all learn not to be so profoundly stupid!!
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Coupled with the fear that someone is getting something more than they are that will never happen.
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It's the Edinburgh trial this weekend four hundred odd miles around Derbyshire. I don't know how many enties, but I hope the fuel situations better.
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"Perhaps we should all learn"
Manatee's post somewhere above probably spoke for most of us here.
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Sunday:
" the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) estimates between 50 and 90 per cent of the 5,500 independent petrol stations it represents had run dry by Sunday." which obviously drove the mindless panic even further.
Thursday (today):
"The PRA, which represents independent fuel retailers, said that more than a quarter (27%) of its members' petrol stations were out of fuel on Thursday."
Then the BBC reports that the useless t***s at the PRA say "There has been no sign of improvement in petrol supplies at independent petrol stations, industry body the Petrol Retailers Association says." which just keeps the s*** going.
So looking further we find: "A PRA spokesman said that [the 50 - 90%] was an anecdotal figure from conversations its chair Brian Madderson had with members over the weekend.
Idiots.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 30 Sep 21 at 15:19
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Now back home from our sojourn in the New Forest. A day earlier than planned for which primary reason is grandchild's arrival brought forward due to its Mother's blood pressure issues. Weather and fuel played a part too though as we avoided driving around and cycling in wind/rain is no fun.
We left with the fuel gauge showing half full and predicted range of 290 miles for a 120mile journey. Once real world consumption towing a tonne of caravan impacted that dropped to around 210 and we kept a reserve worth a hundred or so miles until we found fuel.
Signs on the M27 said 'No Fuel at Services J3-4' which I took to mean Rownhams though as we drove past there were cars on the forecourt. Sutton Scotney on the A34 ran out while we were in a short queue. Apparently there was still supply to another set of pumps but it wasn't a situation where we could reverse with a caravan, even with Mrs B as banksman, and join another queue.
Eventually sorted at Chievley albeit limited to £45 but that was enough to get us home and will last a week or two even though the 'lingo's service is booked for Monday in MK.
Locally Tesco and a Shell station on the road out to M1/J16 are working normally so next job is to get the Fabia filled up.
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Its a very time and location specific issue. Such that locally you can be stuffed, but if on a longer journey you'll be fine somewhere on route.
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Been on Anglesey since the start of the problem. Car had 3/4 of a tank of petrol. When we arrived there were queues at every filling station we passed. Sunday they seemed to disappear. Of those that we noted there seemed to be no diesel but plenty of petrol. Tanked up on an otherwise very quiet Shell forecourt. No fears about the journey home. By pure chance I filled up Mrs RP's MINI before the news broke and craziness unfolded (as with the mower's five litre can), if all else fails I'll catch a train home collect the MINI and the 5 litre can and return to pick up the Volvo ! Our trip up to Trearddur this morning for lunch netted much the same sort of situation, very little queing and plenty of petrol pumps open...
Last edited by: R.P. on Thu 30 Sep 21 at 18:27
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Thursday to Tuesday motorcycle trip to Scotland 1300 miles with Gairloch being the most northerly point. Kept the tanks topped up as and when there was availability. Further away from conurbations the less problems.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Thu 30 Sep 21 at 23:16
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>>Gairloch being the most northerly point.
Myrtle Bank Hotel?
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Just done Surrey to Bicester & back. ( In Idris's fester) NO fuel here this afternoon in a 20 mile radius, all services out of fuel between here and Bicester.
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"Myrtle Bank Hotel? "
No, The Old Inn at the south end. The Myrtle looks nice. It was a last minite booking and finding 2 X twin rooms was difficult.
Unfortunately it was banging it down when we arrived and it was banging it down when we left so saw absolutely nothing of Gairloch having travelled all that way. But the Scottish Roads are a delight on 2 wheels.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Fri 1 Oct 21 at 20:14
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Quick - follow that tanker
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-58767230
These are the idiots stealing your toilet rolls and blocking your garage. HTF do we tolerate living with amoeba like this?
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..the 'van got back from Devon with half a tank still left. The Smart car is full, having last been refuelled before we went away, and before it all kicked off.
The Volvo, however, had little fuel, having been to Northumberland and back, and needs to go to the dealer next week for software upgrades (I might just about have managed that).
A shopping run in the Smart to the nearby Tesco early yesterday morning indicated availability and no queues, so immediately on return, I took the Volvo, only to find queues now round the block! There are two stations adjacent on the main road, albeit somewhat more expensive; one was completely out, and the other had only very short queues (and a £35 limit), so I pulled up first in line after a car at the pump.
It was an old Suzuki Jimny with an elderly couple. 'He' was just removing the nozzle from the car as I pulled up, but then 'She' removed two 5 litre cans from the back of the car, and they proceeded to fill those.
At least he pulled forward whilst she went in to pay; the total was on the pump as I waited - £16.45. At £1.38 per litre, and with 10 litres in cans, you can do the maths as to how much went in the car......
It's no wonder there is a shortage.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58766648
I think the government think this is going to go on a while.
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At last!
OK might not have a big impact but currently they don't seem to have done anything but blame drivers... that's not a solution.
I have enough for two days going to and from work.... I get out from work after 6pm so any stations near me who did have fuel during the day are then dry.
I can't waste fuel driving to stations only to find them closed.
My Trust currently has no contingency plans apart from telling staff that they'll have to take AL if they can't get in.
From what I heard on news reports the Govt do have some emergency powers that they could have implemented before now but seem reluctant hoping it will all blow over!
How do people find out about when deliveries are coming?
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Can you not wfh?
I don't think you can find out before with publicly available info, asking friends and family keeping an eye on SM is perhaps a good idea.
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Reading on other forums from drivers it seems that there's plenty of wagon drivers wanting to get into driving tankers but even now it's difficult to get into. Seems its still a closed shop.
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>>Can you not wfh?
I thought Rudedog worked in operating theatres so it might be a bit messy.
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Ah right, I wasn't aware of what rudedog's job is.
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>>
>> I thought Rudedog worked in operating theatres so it might be a bit messy.
>>
...can't he phone it in like GPs do...? ;-)
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>> How do people find out about when deliveries are coming?
They follow the (cement) tanker lorries until they stop.
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Surreal experience today. Just got back from the (very wet) Ardingly country show. Through Copthorne a large queue appeared on a roundabout which i quickly went to the outside of. Looking at the map it was clear there was a filling station ahead. Slipping down the outside of the line of cars, straddling the white line for 1/2 mile we came to said filling station.
it was clossed
But it had a tanker in,
edit: 37mpg on the beemer today round trip, looks like return trip to Thurrock tomorrow AND return to Huntingdon, Tuesday looks a doer on this tank
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 2 Oct 21 at 14:26
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Big illuminated notices on M3 say Fleet Services out of fuel.
They're not.
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But it was a 4 or 5 car queue so I couldn't be a***d to stop.
However, despite the notices, Rownhams also has fuel and there was no queue, so I gave then 70 of my finest British pounds and my life continues.
Should it matter to you they have both unleaded and diesel.
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>> Big illuminated notices on M3 say Fleet Services out of fuel.
>>
>> They're not.
We had a similar experience at Rownhams on Thursday. Signs said no fuel although they referenced the place by the junctions it's between rather than by name. As we drove past we could see cars on the filling station...
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>> Big illuminated notices on M3 say Fleet Services out of fuel.
>>
>> They're not.
Experience has taught me that stuff displayed on motorway gantry signs is invariably wrong. About 50% of the time I reckon. Enough to make them valueless.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 2 Oct 21 at 15:47
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>> Experience has taught me that stuff displayed on motorway gantry signs is invariably wrong. About
>> 50% of the time I reckon. Enough to make them valueless.
Invariably means always, not just 50% of the time.
We've done this to death before but they're usually right. Just 'cos you didn't see the horses or pedestrians om the M/way it doesn't mean they were never there.
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>> We've done this to death before but they're usually right. Just 'cos you didn't see
>> the horses or pedestrians om the M/way it doesn't mean they were never there.
when they go, the signs should go off.
I bet my 15k miles a year experience counts more than yours.
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Seems to be a south east thing at the moment. All the local stations here have fuel and no queues.
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Absolutely no queues for fuel in Pembokeshire, I have a 350 mile journey home tomorrow so went to local Tescos to see cars queueing to get in and out but this was for the shop , not the fuel aggravated by the timings of the traffic lights to get on and off the main road nearby
Now topped up and good for 550 miles according to the computer.Price £1.349 per litre.
Been past several stations in the last couple of days and seen nothing like a queue for fuel anywhere in a 50 mile or so radius . Prices for diesel have generally crept up though, generally now over the £1.40 mark.
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>> Seems to be a south east thing at the moment. All the local stations here
>> have fuel and no queues.
I was not surprised to hear that the Federation of small petrol station owners or some such says that things are getting worse in the SE. Anecdotally it certainly seems to have got worse round here and my PM simply couldn't get any fuel in Leighton Buzzard yesterday. People can't hoard petrol like bog rolls, it should be flowing again now.
I don't think this is all due to the media and panic buying. And I note that Johnson, who said there was no problem, is now pledging to fix it to "Save Christmas" says the Daily Mail. By letting in some foreigners that he went to great trouble to exclude.
He has also said that our plucky British wagon drivers should be paid more. While deploying some squaddies on £15-20k a year to do it. When will the Great British Public see what these people are?
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He has also said that our plucky British wagon drivers should be paid more. While
>> deploying some squaddies on £15-20k a year to do it. When will the Great British
>> Public see what these people are?
>>
Tri-service if you please, old chap.
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>> I was not surprised to hear that the Federation of small petrol station owners or
>> some such says that things are getting worse in the SE. Anecdotally it certainly seems
>> to have got worse round here and my PM simply couldn't get any fuel in
>> Leighton Buzzard yesterday.
OK. I give up. What is PM?
Poor Mum?
Permanent Mistress?
Poncey Mate?
Post Master?
Prime Minister?
Personal Masseur?
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I would guess project manager.
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It had gotten considerably worse yesterday.
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No fuel in Settle from late afternoon yesterday. In the AM a queuing system had been put in place around the perimeter of the adjacent car park.
I drove past twice today, and called in once for milk. Still no fuel...person in front asked where the nearest petrol station was. 11 miles to Ingleton and the cashier had no idea if it had fuel.
That’s the problem with being a tourist town with just one filling station.....nearest fuel is either 11 miles or 17 miles away to either Skipton & Barnoldswick.
Must be a lot of worried locals, especially trades folk with vans.
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Experience has taught me that stuff displayed on motorway gantry signs is invariably wrong. About
>> 50% of the time I reckon. Enough to make them valueless.
>>
Only 50% wrong? That's pretty good for the Highways Agency.
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I think taking the panic buying morons for a few quid is an excellent idea. Bit harsh on those fewer genuine needs, but the lemmings deserve it.
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Well indeed, though I’m not sure how £2.93 a litre is double the ‘normal’ price of £1.98 a litre…
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>> Well indeed, though I’m not sure how £2.93 a litre is double the ‘normal’ price
>> of £1.98 a litre…
Yeah, I think certain tabloids ( and politicians) have figured out that a sizeable chunk of the population are really not very good with numbers...
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I guess it's double the typical price in rUK of ~£1.40 but written to be as sensationalist as possible.
Funny that, for the Sun.
Good to see that with "Drained Dry!" they still rely on alliteration as the lowest form of wit for their poor journos.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sun 3 Oct 21 at 07:53
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I'm away at the mo but daughter contacted me to ask if I had any jerry cans as she is getting very low and her mate was going cruising last night for petrol so she wanted to join her.
I have two old plastic ones (proper ones, mind), which she found and took (and filled!).
I recalled there was a bit of a knack to filling the car so told her to watch a Youtube to see how to do it, which she did, but she said it's going everywhere except into the car, so she is going to call up one of my friendly neighbours today for a bit of help. Not sure if cars have more in the way of anti-syphon devices these days which might make it more difficult.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 3 Oct 21 at 09:17
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>> Not sure if cars have more in the way of anti-syphon devices these days which might make it
>> more difficult.
>>
...quite a few cars have a "baffle" inside the filler neck that a pump nozzle will open, but a petrol can spout may not. In this case, the manufacturer normally provides an adapter (stored in the boot?), to insert into the filler neck before using the can.
My current car(s) have that.
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The Petrol Retainers Association who are frequently interviewed on the news claim they speak for 65% of forecourts.
This may be correct - but it is sales volume that is more important. Do they speak for Tescos, Sainsburys, Morrissons etc where forecourts may have a dozen pumps, not 2 or 3.
And in remote locations with a low population a single garage may serve the entire local community. They may normally only be resupplied once a week due to low volumes.
If suddenly people panic and empty the forecourt tanks, it may be days before they are replenished.
This is not to suggest that there is no problem - merely that people remain in panic mode whilst a station is closed. They are incapable of thinking more rationally. Rather than a limit of £30 imposed by many forecourts, perhaps this should be reduced to £10.
People may then find it more hassle than it's wroth to sit in a queue for so little. No queue = no shortage = no need to panic!
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8,394 petrol stations in the UK
Supermarket sites – 1,562
Petrol company owned sites - 1,340
Independent site - 5,492
The big four supermarkets:
Tesco - 507 sites
Morrisons - 335 sites
Sainsbury’s - 312 sites
Asda - 321 sites
Supermarket sites account for 49% of all petrol sales and 43% of diesel.
From what I can glean it is the independents that are hardest hit - typically smaller tanks, les regular supplies, and less stock on hand.
So despite the utter drivel coming from the mouth of Brian Madderson the independents are suffering. It's difficult to be sure because unlike Madderson the Supermarket spokespersons are not spouting any old crap just to get on the radio.
Mostly, however, the independents are suffering because their profitability does not rely on fuel. Hence they target number of visits more than they do quantity of fuel sold. So the lack of add-on sales is killing them.
Demand on independent stations is currently 250% of normal.
Personally I have had no difficulty in getting fuel and have not queued to any degree. According to my credit card report I have spent £248 on fuel over the last 2 weeks.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 3 Oct 21 at 13:40
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Good call T&E, it's the oldish Fiesta which has featured in these pages before and a quick Google shows that there is quite possibly a spout alongside the spare wheel.
I'm awaiting feedback...
In the event that she cant fill it, I wonder how much she could eBay two jerrycans of unleaded for? :-)
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Back home from Wales today, averaged 48.5mpg, Leigh Delamare where we stopped seemed like most services to be charging £1.599 per litre for diesel but I topped up at a station local to home after queueing less than 5 minutes.
Only one diesel pump and limited to 30 litres but at £1.389 not overcharging .
Will not need to fill up for a couple of weeks now.
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Just back from Supermarket.
4 pumps with cones around them.
Turns out that somebody spilt diesel and they were waiting on the sand to soak it up on 1 side. Then, on the other side somebody reversed, lost control of forward & reverse and took out 2 pumps. One set of pumps bashed & electrical supply cut off - the cashier said "It has not been the best of days"
Otherwise plenty fuel and no queues - I bought some E5 £1.40 ltr.
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Right - so that's 198 miles under the beemers belt this weekend, in its new "frugal mode". Trip computer says it has another 380 miles range and is averaging 38 MPG. Certainly enough for its 185 mile return trip due on Tuesday.
Cruzin in the slow lane is stressful, too much up the road advanced planning required hindered by the variable speed monkeys determined to jam you into the truck in front. Much prefer fast lane high speed bullying.
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>Much prefer fast lane high speed bullying.
Is there a menu setting to turn off the Overtaking Lane Departure Warning System or is it a 3rd-party firmware mod?
I know the Centre Lane Departure system on Volvos can't be turned off.
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>> >Much prefer fast lane high speed bullying.
>>
>> Is there a menu setting to turn off the Overtaking Lane Departure Warning System or
>> is it a 3rd-party firmware mod?
Its part of the rarely ordered indicators package.
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>> Cruzin in the slow lane is stressful, too much up the road advanced planning required
>> hindered by the variable speed monkeys determined to jam you into the truck in front.
>> Much prefer fast lane high speed bullying.
Chill!
I find cruising in the inside lane at just below 70's relaxing and saves fuel.
By the way, there's no such thing as the 'fast lane', or 'the lane of shame', as the Italians refer to the inside lane. I quite like to use it and the hard shoulder on smart motorways as my privilege lane.
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The Fiesta of around 2010/11 most certainly should have a "funnel" (I know, because number one son has our old one ;-) )
The new Volvo has one as well.
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dont think I have a funnel, or even a flap. I can squirt fuel into it with the nozzle barely in. Its all a bit premature E (10)
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Over 60 hours now without fuel of any kind in Settle.
Walked to my local for the usual Sunday late afternoon soirée and lots of cars trying to buy fuel. Quick turn around.
Still no fuel at 21:00 when I walked past en route home.
Lots of locals on FB desperate for fuel to get to work tomorrow..not good if the hourly bus or occasional train is of no use.
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Looks like the Army are already out delivering...
My daughter was down to 1/4 tank, but luckily her local Sainsbury's (Sevenoaks) has had a delivery which was made by an Army driver, don't know any other details.
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Well, driving tonight I filled up at an Esso in the Cotswolds with 4 pumps, unleaded and diesel, all working and only me in on the forecourt.
So that was yet another prawn and mayo sandwich. I love those things.
It's pretty much all reactionary and sensationalist b*******.
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It sure isn’t in my neck of the woods.
The complete opposite.
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>> It sure isn’t in my neck of the woods.
>> The complete opposite.
It's patchy for all sorts of reasons.
Trip to MK tomorrow for the Berlingo's service. I'll see what the fuel stations en-route look like.
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>> It sure isn’t in my neck of the woods.
>> The complete opposite.
I think that's probably the point. I am not in a neck of the woods, I am all over the shop.
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>> I am all over the shop.
>>
...ain't that a fact.....
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Sorry to hear that
You can’t have everything
Our two chippies are still functioning with decent haddock, and excellent beer is plentiful ( too b plentiful) at £3.30 pint...
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>> I think that's probably the point. I am not in a neck of the woods,
>> I am all over the shop.
This shop has been pretty bare the back end of last week,
And you need to try the M&S *luxury* prawn sarnie.
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>> And you need to try the M&S *luxury* prawn sarnie.
>>
I am not in the habit of bying sarnies but will try one on my next visit during nother purchase of their four pack of Hot Cross buns which are by far the best I have found country wide.
They are available all year round ( so many others agree with me ). They also freeze well but are restored with a 30 second blast in the microwave.
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Passed a free petrol stations here in Lanarkshire yesterday. Plenty fuel and no queues. Was tempted to fill the other half of my tank but will probably have another 2-3 weeks with left just now anyway so drove on by.
Though no doubt in 3 weeks fuel will be dearer again.
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Free petrol, how generous of them.
Seems now to be an issue just in the SE and London.
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>> Seems now to be an issue just in the SE and London.
>>
This might help ?
www.ziggerwebdesign.co.uk/fuel-availability
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>> This might help ?
>> www.ziggerwebdesign.co.uk/fuel-availability
Seems to be centred around a small area.
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>> >> This might help ?
>> >> www.ziggerwebdesign.co.uk/fuel-availability
>>
>> Seems to be centred around a small area.
As is the availability issues. SW & w london, NE surrey, North Kent, is the bad area.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 4 Oct 21 at 14:47
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... and Wokingham, so I understand it
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>> next visit during nother purchase of their four pack of Hot Cross buns which are
>> by far the best I have found country wide.
>> They are available all year round ( so many others agree with me ). They
>> also freeze well but are restored with a 30 second blast in the microwave.
Cross buns are best hot.
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Trip to Milton Keynes this morning for car service.
Shell on Tove roundabout Towcester open but appeared that one fuel/grade, I'm guessing standard diesel, was off.
BP on the A5 at Paulerspury appeared open but most pumps bagged off.
Asda at Bletchley (Denbigh) fully operational for all fuels/grades, so I stopped. Only avoided a queue because one pump was (a) nearside only and (b) diesel only both of which suit the Berlingo.
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Interesting tidbit of info from our hairdresser today after she'd visited another punter this morning who is a member of staff at our local Sainsburys store.
The manager has reduced the opening hours of the fuel station, not because of lack of fuel but because the muppets queueing for the pumps have been ignoring the lane markings and blocking access to the car park. Store takings were down £30k per day last week.
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The only garage I saw with diesel when I went out for a chore earlier is one that tried to charge me £250 for a repair to my car in the 1980s when it was just a loose wire and was fixed for £2.
For context I was earning £270 a month.
I've not used them since and I will go without until supplies get back to normal.
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Passed a wee (three) RAF convoy of tankers southbound on the A1 today. The tail gunner claimed to have Avtur in it. I doubt its really AVTUR, no RAF bases south of that route,
Also Filled up at a local station, no queue, No premium diesel or Petrol available, and strangely no autogas either!
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Green, hanging on the back of what looked like scammel tractors
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Not many left, nearly all replaced by the yellow MAN bowsers.
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Certainly looked like unearthed from the strategic stockpile
RAF plates, uniformed drivers.
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£1.54 this morning in Towcester. That hurt. If I'd been less hungover and more able to think straight I'd have gone somewhere else.
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>> £1.54 this morning in Towcester. That hurt. If I'd been less hungover and more able
>> to think straight I'd have gone somewhere else.
BP on the A43?
Diesel or unleaded?
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Is this still an issue anywhere?
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on and off round here, very variable
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Filled up with diesel at Morrison’s Bellshill.
Had my choice of pumps, place was deserted.
£1.359 per litre
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Normal here, 136.9 petrol.
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OK here (and sunny and damned hot too) - Algarve!! :-)
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Two out of the four local ones are dry or only have one type of fuel, I managed to fill up yesterday just as the station opened and was late for work but I'm glad I did as the station was dry by home time.
Still not out of the woods just yet.
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Still queueing round here and some rationing. I got £35 in at an Esso station and while I was in queueing mode, went on and found a shortish queue at Tesco to put in about the same again. First time I've put any in that car since the panic started, it was down to about 40 miles range so I went while I had enough fuel to hunt for more. A couple of stations I passed were out of one variety or another.
We used the MX-5 for a trip to Cambridge last weekend because it was nearly full, and is also our most economical transport.
Unlike bog rolls, most people can't just keep buying fuel they aren't using so it has to ease except to the extent that there is a shortage in the supply chain which the chief liar says there isn't.
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Seems that there are problems still, I take it all those finding problems at petrol stations live in the SE?
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>>
>> Unlike bog rolls, most people can't just keep buying fuel they aren't using
>>
Look!
All you need is a bit of improvisation and ingenuity.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRjNdgAetQE
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That is just stupid! It's much safer to use a wheely bin.
Fuel situation around here is getting back to normal but still a little bit hit-and-miss. Seems that the problem has been exacerbated by amoeba in a local FB group.
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Here's a thing.... what if the drivers ARE actually using the fuel they are queuing for?
People have been told to go back to work.... school runs each day..
Maybe the actual fuel usage is higher than is realised and with the 'just in time' deliveries there is no resilience in the system.
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>> Here's a thing.... what if the drivers ARE actually using the fuel they are queuing
>> for?
>>
>> People have been told to go back to work.... school runs each day..
>>
>> Maybe the actual fuel usage is higher than is realised and with the 'just in
>> time' deliveries there is no resilience in the system.
I'm back in the office for two of the three days a week I'm contracted. I've also done more driving for domestic stuff in the last week or three. We've also used the caravan more this year than in 2019.
The panic buying starting two weeks ago certainly exposed a lack of resilience. Up until then any shortage of tanker drivers seemed not to be visible. Even the issue reported that apparently drove the panic only affected a small number of BP outlets.
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I wonder why it's just the SE of England though, others parts of the UK had a few days of panic buying then it was fine or nothing panic buying at all.
I wonder if petrol stations have lower stocks of fuel in their own bulk storage or are smaller? Perhaps people in the SE drive more or a combination? Although I would think there would be more office jobs in the SE so more people would/could be working from home.
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>> I wonder why it's just the SE of England though, others parts of the UK
>> had a few days of panic buying then it was fine or nothing panic buying
>> at all.
If there is a shortage of drivers then the SE is likely to be affected sooner than other areas with a more stable population.
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Possibly, I guess it's hard to know without all the facts and figures. But from what I've read on another forum, there's still very few jobs as a tanker driver anywhere, it's pretty much a closed shop. Although I've not poured through the job adverts myself, just from what I've read.
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>> Here's a thing.... what if the drivers ARE actually using the fuel they are queuing
>> for?
That had occurred to me. It seems likely there is a bit of that as well. Holidays over, schools back too.
Perhaps there isn't such a direct connection but I thought the BP stations would be a good bet because BP has its own facilities at Buncefield which is just down the road. But they were both closed midweek.
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Put half a tank in this morning in the Cotswolds. No problem, no queue and not £1.54 a litre!!
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Just stopped at Tesco Brooklands, no queue, no nuffink. 132.9 for unleaded.
What's all the fuss?
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As long as the panic buying doesn't kick off again and as long as the firm running Stanlow etc stays afloat it should be OK.
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>> Just stopped at Tesco Brooklands, no queue, no nuffink. 132.9 for unleaded.
>>
>> What's all the fuss?
Passed Tesco brooklands on my way to nonsuch park this afternoon. Sure plenty of gas there, None at all in Tolworth, Cheam area. Thats what the fuss is about, you just dont know, tomorrow afternoon Tesco Brooklands could be shut.
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>> Gas?
>> As in cylinders?
As in Gasoline.
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That American stuff?
Did you cross the sidewalk to get it?
Hope you didn’t spill any on your pants!
Hope you didn’t take your wallet out your fannypack to pay for it!
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>> That American stuff?
>> Did you cross the sidewalk to get it?
>> Hope you didn’t spill any on your pants!
>> Hope you didn’t take your wallet out your fannypack to pay for it!
No, No, No. I didn't need any. But any more of your backtalk mofo, you'll end up mangled by my fender and dumped in the trunk of my bee em dubya station wagon.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 10 Oct 21 at 22:37
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What fuel shortage?
2 weeks ago there were queues but, like most stations around me, my Local Tesco never ran out.
I think it helps having a refinery 3 miles away
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The problem has gone away down here. I suspect it’s now only the very densely populated areas that are still a problem. Firstly because there are far more cars / people per petrol station, and secondly it’s easy enough to drive round lots of stations in the hunt for fuel. In rural areas visiting half a dozen petrol stations might mean travelling more than 50 miles, so few bothered and the panic didn’t take hold. I could visit 6 in a 5 or 10 mile round trip and so if worried then people could; in some areas you can probably visit half a dozen in a few miles, and so easy to panic buy.
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My local petrol station (central London) has been fully fuelled for several days now. This is over, isn't it?
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I found a closed petrol station yesterday in Yeovil. I were surprise.
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I'm still have one out of the four dry but luckily the others seem to have varying levels of stock (not E5 yet) which means drivers can go between the others, unlike before when they were all dry at the same time.
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>> I found a closed petrol station yesterday in Yeovil. I were surprise.
All of Yeovil looks closed most of the time.
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Mrs B has just queued for 20 minutes to fill the Berlingo at Sainsbury's. Line extended 100metres or so to the main (A4500) road.
Google suggests there has been local difficulty in some areas, eg Salisbury, due to problems recruiting HGV drivers.
Anyone else seen signs of a return of panic buying?
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A friend passed a long queue at a filling station in Narberth during the week.....but that was down to petrol being at 144.9 a litre.
Cheapest round here is 158.9.
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There's been a rush on SIM cards in Basingstoke.
People are stocking up on GB in case Vlad blows up the submarine cables and there's an internet shortage.
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Fuel shortage - Robin O'Reliant
