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Panic buying


Gritstone Ram

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4 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

I wasn't suggesting that there aren't a huge number of people panicking and buying fuel they don't actually need - but social media and the news channels are full of pictures of fuel queues and also people claiming they are more deserving than others (nurses, taxi drivers, etc) and stirring up emotions - I've also seen people posting photographs of people in front of them in queues and slating those people publicly whilst having absolutely no idea what that person's circumstances were. To consider the original post - maybe the person putting £10 worth was just joining the herd; or maybe he needed that extra couple of gallons to complete a long journey; or maybe he could only afford £10.....

Petrol rationing is the only solution if they can't sort this crap out quickly

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1 hour ago, Bob The Badger said:

A friend just messaged me to say he had to go to Bakewell from Matlock to the bank and the queue for petrol started at The Peacock at Rowsley for the only filling station in the area that had fuel.

For those of you who don't know the area, that's about 3.5 miles away.

Let's assume that the average car is 15 feet long, with an average distance gap between cars of 5 feet. That would give around 800 vehicles in that queue. If there are 8 pumps at the petrol station, and each customer takes around 4 minutes to buy their fuel, the person at the back is going to get their fuel in around 6 hours time.

6 hours idling or inching forward uses around 0.25-0.5 gallons per hour - so between 1.5 and 3 gallons used up before you even get to the pumps (obviously less if the engine automatically stops when the vehicle is stationary - but that's for newish cars of course) - so that's between £10 and £20 just wasted.

Per vehicle.

What did they say about "Derbyshire born and Derbyshire bred"?

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The thing I find interesting m about situations like this is the self fulfilling prophecy aspect. 

‘oh no, someone told me there’s going to be a fuel shortage, I should go buy some fuel.

’see, I was right, now there’s a fuel shortage. Wasn’t I clever to go get that fuel, and fill 16 Jerry cans while I was at it.’

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20 hours ago, Eddie said:

Not one EU lorry driver will take advantage of the government's latest panic-driven short-term visa scheme to come over here for 3 months work when there is ample work for them on the continent. Also, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Sweden pay higher wages to truckers compared to the UK so, again, why would truckers bother coming here?.

Based on the above why would they have been here in the first place?

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33 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Let's assume that the average car is 15 feet long, with an average distance gap between cars of 5 feet. That would give around 800 vehicles in that queue. If there are 8 pumps at the petrol station, and each customer takes around 4 minutes to buy their fuel, the person at the back is going to get their fuel in around 6 hours time.

6 hours idling or inching forward uses around 0.25-0.5 gallons per hour - so between 1.5 and 3 gallons used up before you even get to the pumps (obviously less if the engine automatically stops when the vehicle is stationary - but that's for newish cars of course) - so that's between £10 and £20 just wasted.

Per vehicle.

What did they say about "Derbyshire born and Derbyshire bred"?

That's a mis-quote. The phrase is "strong in the arm, and quick in the head".

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34 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

The thing I find interesting m about situations like this is the self fulfilling prophecy aspect. 

‘oh no, someone told me there’s going to be a fuel shortage, I should go buy some fuel.

’see, I was right, now there’s a fuel shortage. Wasn’t I clever to go get that fuel, and fill 16 Jerry cans while I was at it.’

Surely that's self fuelling prophecy???

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39 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Obviously we all know what you are linking this 'crisis' to, just out of interest why has it taken 9 months for it to cause a shortage?

I guess people have not being using as much petrol as they used to throughout Covid. As things have opened up over the Summer, there is a greater demand that can't be met for lack of drivers.

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15 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Spondon Asda is back to normal it seemed this afternoon. Queued up as usual and had no issues. The panic buyers have seemed to have sorted themselves out now.

Good to hear - hopefully things will level off when all the panic-buyers have topped up their cars which will then be sitting unused on their driveways - leaving plenty of capacity at the petrol stations for those that need to use their cars....

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5 hours ago, David said:

... We had wash power changed not for another brand, but for washing up liquid once which I politely declined. 

Reminds me of my childhood!  ?

I don't recall us ever having washing up liquid, (despite being on regular pot-wash duty!).

We were so poor, we washed the pots & pans with the same Omo//Daz/Tide wash powder that got used in the old copper wash tub thingy, and subsequently the twin tub (Google it, kids!)  Took some bloody rinsing, I can tell yer!  

Used to hate it when Blue Peter used to say you need an old Fairy Liquid bottle to make this spaceship!  Made all mine out of a box!  ?

 

#truestorythat!

 

Oh... just read that back... we used the same wash powder... not literally re-used the same dirty dishwater!  We were poor, not chavs!  ?

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1 hour ago, G STAR RAM said:

Based on the above why would they have been here in the first place?

The vote which utterly screwed this country for ever more (or at least the rest of my life) was five years ago. The figures relating to relative wages for lorry drivers are from 2020-21.

The fact that we unceremoniously threw out - or made unwelcome to the point of making them spend Christmas 2020 in a bloody car park in Kent - tens of thousands of lorry drivers - doesn't strike me as the most effective way of enticing them back again, only for us to throw them out again on December 24, 2021.

Equally, the fact that the only region of the United Kingdom which is not suffering logistically-induced fuel, food and commodity shortages is, coincidentally, the only region of the United Kingdom which still enjoys, to a certain extent, freedom of movement. This, coupled with the fact that the 27 members of the EU are also seemingly inoculated from our sceptered-isle-specific 'sunlit upland teething problems' is as utterly infuriating now as it ever was. I'm sick of saying "I told you so".

Next question? I have many more rants available.

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 The term 'panic buyers' is so disrespectful to most of the people queuing for petrol.

The fact is that these days we rely so much on our cars. So many work a good distance from home and are far from family. They may not work for emergency services or be 'key workers'  but they still need to get to work and rely on their vehicles. Gone are the days when people and their families lived and worked locally and were less reliant on cars.

My mum is 90 and I go over to see her three times a week, staying over one night, to enable her to stay in her own home. It is a round journey of 50 miles each time I go over. I was lucky to have a full tank of petrol before this struck and I am now down to half and I won't fill up until I need to but I hope that this resolves very soon.

Anyone who needs to get to work is going to be concerned about getting there if the journey can't be made by bus or bike. It's not about  'panicking' it's about making sure that we have enough fuel for where we have to be in the next week.

The fault lies with the media, without whom we would have been fine.

Edited by Miggins
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