Panic buying!

[C225]

If a petrol company decided to skip a bus depot so they ran out then they are thick as mince. If buses don't run there will be more cars on the road, so more queues for petrol. Quite possible though.

There are limited drivers though, fewer than was needed to keep the supply going and its been teetering on the edge for months. It was broken long before any panicing. I'm pretty suspicious why no one has published how much fuel has actually been sold over the last few days, as maybe 2/3 of petrol stations are dry how much of these queues are just displaced users of other petrol stations.

Probably a business decision as I guess they can get more money selling on forecourts than what they charge the bus company.

 

[Sparkeur]

There's a shortage of drivers across most of Europe too

I keep reading this and seeing it being reported in the UK media as something Grant Schapps has said. All I can say is there is no shortage of fuel at our local stations or on the autoroute (which, Monday to Saturday is full of trucks!), there are no queues and prices, while slightly higher than last year, still remain about 1.38€ for diesel and another 15ct for petrol. I'm heading up to the UK on Saturday and the Michelin planner is showing no issues on the French side. From what I'm reading here, I'm presuming there won't be any charging problems on my route from Plymouth to Portsmouth via Salisbury over a few days.

 

[Dilly]

I had heating oil delivered yesterday. The same company also delivers petrol & diesel. The driver told me his company has no shortage of drivers or fuel and they are making deliveries just as frequently as usual. Demand is just outstripping deliveries!

 

[Irata]

I suspect things are quite variable between companies and regions, unfortunately.

Yesterday when driving home, I did see three petrol stations looking normal with no queues and people filling up.

We have a just-in-time system that needs "normal time" to work, so any "abnormal time" (a rush) can break it. This can always happen with such a system. I suspect a "panic" could be created in any country and could create a problem, we often see how quickly strikes can drag a country down throughout the world.

There is an alternative, a just-in-case model, but that will push prices higher. All depends what everyone prefers.

 

[Skotty]

I've seen this in the U.S.A. just from a widely publicized news report about how gas prices were going to jump up. After the report, cars were queuing into streets waiting in really long lines to get fuel. Ridiculous behavior. This was a number of years ago.

 

[Durzel]

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy really.

You can certainly blame the media for sensationalising it, but reporting on some petrol stations being closed due to shortages (i.e. BP) is just reporting news.

The problem really is that once word gets around you get an accumulation of cars going to fill up "just in case", and as soon as you start getting queues, and talk of queues in the usual places, then it drives others to do the same. In a pretty short space of time you end up with a plain old bank run.

At that point telling people that there is nothing to worry about achieves exactly the opposite effect, either due to mistrust or simply because people can see with their own eyes that petrol stations are rammed, or limiting purchases, or completely dry.

I presume at some point soon petrol stations will actually start to get refuelled properly, but there will be a decent amount of people who won't need to refuel for a while.

 

[Dilly]

I presume at some point soon petrol stations will actually start to get refuelled properly, but there will be a decent amount of people who won't need to refuel for a while.

…and then I can fill up my two cans for the mowers without getting stoned to death…

 

[Durzel]

…and then I can fill up my two cans for the mowers without getting stoned to death…

A attendant at a garage local to me told me of a story of a recent forecourt argument between a woman and a guy who had the audacity to fill up 2 jerry cans. She was a carer (apparently) and was basically shouting at him telling him how selfish he was. it turned out that he was a landscape gardener, so he basically needed the petrol in those cans to do his job. Also, there was a £30 purchasing limit anyway there. So this poor bloke got haranged for daring to stick the nozzle into something other than a car.

It's crazy how a few days of a petrol shortage turn people into nutters.

 

[darkNstormy]

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy really.

Self fuel filling prophecy, you mean?

 

[Dilly]

Self fuel filling prophecy, you mean?

Panic buying fuel must be full self driving surely…

 

[PITA]

I blame the toilet rolls...

It's like all the toilet roll losers came out at once, not to be beaten again

Yay... got in first this time baby...

 

[Mr Miserable]

Just got back from my local Tesco.
I saw a bloke buying 4 crates of San Miguel, 5 paellas and 3 sombreros.

Wait for it....
Hispanic buying.

 

[pgkevet]

500 mile round trip yesterday - mid-Wales to Whitby via Scotch Corner, Every petrol station was open with no queues and no sign of an HGV shortage - darn things were everywhere!

 

[M3noob]

You laugh, but the route to the Amesbury supercharger is a one way road in a retail park and goes past a petrol station. There was a huge queue yesterday which I got stuck in even though I didn’t need petrol

 

[PITA]

I hate queues... don't you

 

[PITA]

@M3noob...

Yes but we now have Boombox

Farting, La Cucaracha, Bad Boys theme tune...

Whole new dimension of annoying

 

[Mr H]

@M3noob...

Yes but we now have Boombox

Farting, La Cucaracha, Bad Boys theme tune...

Whole new dimension of annoying

I have the Benny Hill theme which is handy to play just as they open a petrol station…

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

I supercharged earlier in the week (Tuesday) and had to squeeze past the long queue of cars waiting for petrol, they did at least try and keep out the way. Same supercharger today, half the pumps were free as I drive past to charge. I think its pretty much over now (although I did like the saying that anacdotal evidence isn't data). There was never a shortage IMHO, it was as the thread title says, just panic buying.

Can't make up my mind on the lorry driver thing, I imagine it takes time to train (both your driving skills and how to refil a tizer bottle on the move) but if I was a lorry driver I'd be expecting a thicker pay packet. What will be next? Not enough Apple pickers and cider shortage? On the back of a worldwide pandemic, having more job vacancies than for years is far better than 3 million unemployed as they come of furlow and no jobs market.

 

[MrBadger]

I hate queues... don't you View attachment 716185

No point being smug. We are not immune. What goes around, comes around etc.

At least 2 others empty on the other side bays that looks like they had just finished, or given up. I was lucky and got there just as someone had finished up, but even so, add to this the A/B sharing and queue to leave the services, it was a pretty long stop and certainly would have been quicker to have joined the queue for petrol. Several of the white cars were all together celebrating a collection day.

Interestingly, iirc it was an id.3, came in to look at charging in the Tesla bays too, but carried on through as no spaces. I wondered if they know something that we don't and they were really looking to charge.

 

[PITA]

No point being smug. We are not immune. What goes around, comes around etc.

Well actually, I wasn't being Smug... it was a light hearted joke between EV owners.

But now, I am being Smug because we have a Tesla eco-system at home and the only reason I was at a Supercharger in the first place, is to use up free Supercharger miles I've been gifted by referrals & Tesla customer service... need to use them, or lose them.

... and no, if it had of been busy I would've left and come back later.

Happy days all round really...