Panic buying petrol - PLONKERS

I did not see the need to panic buy - foolish perhaps - as other stations and supermarkets were not involved. Anyway went out for Fathers Day luch on a quarter tank and planned to pick up fuel on the way. Passed an Esso, no fuel. Passed a BP, no fuel. Passed a Tesco, maaaasssive q's. Never mind I'll pick up one in the country. We passed 4 all empty. ended up having to turn around through the fear of running out of fuel. Ended up finding a station with fuel and managed eventually to get somewhere for lunch.

Read in the paper today fuel sales are up 25% since the strike.

Why do these people do it.

Grrrrrr

Rant finished

Media scare mongering and general stupidity
will always mix a heady brew of panic.

Indeed Nev, our trustworthy media can always be trusted to make a mountain out of a molehill.
We were lucky enough to go to France yesterday (replenish the wine stocks - vital fuel for my heart and blood you understand ), so could fill up at Carrefour for E1.46 a litre, which means that they are as expensive as us. However, it was a nice day out, and cheaper than going to London.

It is difficult to be reasonable sometimes.

I am a "glass half empty" person - never let the fuel indicator get below 1/2.

Liz will run on fumes and watch me panic as buzzers sound and lights flash. "What, what?" is her perennial cry.

So this weekend we were out and about - and as we approached home Liz pulled into a filling station and filled up - just to make sure that she can do work stuff next week. Now then - normally she would put £30 worth in but now it was £60.

Does that qualify as "Panic" buying?

Paul.

Originally Posted by PaulR

Does that qualify as "Panic" buying?

Hmmm..... I don't think so.

Unless you waited in a queue
for more than 5mins to fill up.

If you made a special journey and as Nev said q'd for ages then yes. But the additional fuel would not have helped in making my stomach wait an extra 1.5hrs for lunch. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!! ;-)

Originally Posted by Nev

Hmmm..... I don't think so.

Unless you waited in a queue
for more than 5mins to fill up.

Don't know about today (haven't driven out) but yesterday there were no queues anywhere we saw in Suffolk and Norfolk. There WERE noticeably less cars on the road tho' so perhaps people were being cautious.

Paul.

What makes me laugh is even when
there are real shortages, people still
don't car pool to work.

I'm down in Poole/Bournemouth and it's mad. Not sure if it's a combination of the strike and the amount of tourists (caravan, motor homes etc) But all the from what I saw today the non supermarket stations were empty and the supermarkets q'd down the road.

My local fuel station has a £10 limit on fuel purchases. £10!!!? That barely hits the bottom of my tank!! I put £10 in yesterday evening and was running on fumes by time I got to work today, where thankfully there was a BP garage with no fuel restriction in place, or queues. This is just madness!

Thing is you have to panic buy if others do, otherwise you won't be able to get any yourself.

I haven't filled up any more than normal this week, but if I feel that all the stations are going to run out then I will make sure I do fill up in case. Normally I won't fill up more than about half full, but I make make an exception and brim the tank if there may be a shortage.

Why.. oh... why is it called Panic Buying

If you need your car to get you somewhere.... you need petrol....

If there is a possibility that petrol may not be freely available then you, very sensibly, fill your tank more frequently than normal.

Why do the sheep call that 'panic buying'

It is people simply responding to a situation.

Filled my Navara last week, half a tank left now so i should be ok for another week, maybe a few days more. This fuel taxation is madness, it seems that the government wants to instantly reach its greenhouse gas limits or whatever it is and if the country goes banked in the meantime then...............oooh, don't think they have thought that far in front If the hauliers say they have had enough and stop delivering food to the supermarkets then what will everybody do?? That scenario is a month away i reckon, then we will be up s*it creek. Never mind panic buying of fuel, you all need to get down that supermarket and get some snap in the cupboards.

Went to my local Asda and they were just closing the pumps, I asked the manager if they had run out and he said "no we are closing because people are fighting each other to get into the pumps" , I then had a converstaion with him and he explained that there is only a shortage because people wont show restraint, they are buying up all the fuel stock causing traffic jams and generally acting stupid for no reason, he was a good bloke and let me get some fuel before they closed the pumps down ( I only put in £25 I showed some restraint )

No queues up here. Maybe we're a bit more laid back!

Or ran out last week

Originally Posted by alfaGJ

It is people simply responding to a situation.

A situation that the people created for themselves.

I think any change in your petrol/diesel purchasing decision constitutes a degree of panic buying.

If these people didn't buy more than usual then frankly there wouldn't be a problem.

But we all rationalise our decision making... i am filling up because of work etc. The reason is irrelevant in my opinion.

Originally Posted by HSTDriver

A situation that the people created for themselves.

No.....

It's a situation that has been created by a minority, that have some power to wield, in an attempt to achieve their perceived 'needs'.

Originally Posted by alfaGJ

Why.. oh... why is it called Panic Buying

If you need your car to get you somewhere.... you need petrol....

If there is a possibility that petrol may not be freely available then you, very sensibly, fill your tank more frequently than normal.

Why do the sheep call that 'panic buying'

It is people simply responding to a situation.

Its called "panic buying" because its an irrational response to a given situation.
I think you have missed the point. There wouldn't be a shortage if people acted rationally.

So what is everybody going to do about these inflated fuel prices? Personally i can manage for a few weeks then i'll be laying my staff off. All my overheads have increased and the phone hasn't rung for weeks. Everybody is skint or not spending owt. The building trade is about dead The tax on fuel needs to be dropped back to what it was twelve months ago. Independent accountants say that duty could be dropped by something like 25 or 30p a litre? Can't quite remember exactly. The government didn't have the money a year ago, why do they suddenly need it now? apart from paying thousands of civil servants 100k plus to do a 30k job.

Oh, and the tanker drivers want 39k for sitting on their arses for most of the day. I'd be happy to see that sort of money in a two year period and working a fifty hour week.