It's funny how (fuel shortages)

cheesefest · 26 Sep 2021 at 17:13

Work was horrendous. My store doesn’t have a petrol station. The problem is a larger store, a few away - their only vehicle entrance is shared with the petrol station and only one car wide!

So customers decided to visit our store and not the competition in the same town.

Had a panic attack which came from nowhere!

My mental health can’t cope with this anymore

Nasher · 26 Sep 2021 at 17:47

cheesefest said:
Work was horrendous. My store doesn’t have a petrol station. The problem is a larger store, a few away - their only vehicle entrance is shared with the petrol station and only one car wide!

So customers decided to visit our store and not the competition in the same town.

Had a panic attack which came from nowhere!

My mental health can’t cope with this anymore

Yea I'm seeing that all over. I live in a small town with a Sainburys in the middle, which also has one entrance for everything. People are queued down the high street and blocking everything. The only way to get to the shops is walk in.

If I was running it I'd say close the forecourt when the tanks are half way down and only allow in emergency vehicles and police.

WoZZeR · 26 Sep 2021 at 17:49

Mikeey said:
Totally this. Plus conditions of the day job. Our service stations are a joke in this day and age and HGV drivers have always been looked down on as steering wheel attendants with zero respect. Cant say I blame them for moving on to either retirement or a different job.

Also roads are dire now, most of the major routes are start/stop on a regular basis, most big distribution centres/factories give you 30 minutes to an hour either side of your booking time, outside this and they will make you wait at their leisure, so rubbish run down the motorway often leads to a long day sitting around waiting. Add to this periodic CPC training, efficient economical driving trackers scoring the drivers on their performance and lastly the drivers hours rules including the wtd and it's easy to see why people would prefer a job where they can get home for tea instead of having a rubbish meal at the services and a disturbed nights sleep in the cab.

=XDC=FluphyBunny · 26 Sep 2021 at 18:00

WoZZeR said:
Also roads are dire now, most of the major routes are start/stop on a regular basis, most big distribution centres/factories give you 30 minutes to an hour either side of your booking time, outside this and they will make you wait at their leisure, so rubbish run down the motorway often leads to a long day sitting around waiting. Add to this periodic CPC training, efficient economical driving trackers scoring the drivers on their performance and lastly the drivers hours rules including the wtd and it's easy to see why people would prefer a job where they can get home for tea instead of having a rubbish meal at the services and a disturbed nights sleep in the cab.

There may be a lack of HGV drivers but I this has nothing to do with this so called fuel shortage. This was led by the media and created by the stupid.

Also from what I remember fuel delivery drivers were on a good wage. The ones I knew certainly weren’t badly paid and went home every night.

Jokester · 26 Sep 2021 at 18:02

Ultimately this is a win for the governement, as when the panic buying stops because people can't fill their cars up any further, they can say the visa scheme is a great success even though it does nothing to address the issue.

cheesefest · 26 Sep 2021 at 18:05

Nasher said:
Yea I'm seeing that all over. I live in a small town with a Sainburys in the middle, which also has one entrance for everything. People are queued down the high street and blocking everything. The only way to get to the shops is walk in.

If I was running it I'd say close the forecourt when the tanks are half way down and only allow in emergency vehicles and police.

Think all new supermarkets with petrol stations need two entrances. One for petrol station and one for supermarket. Just in case this situation ever happens again.

Also a few years ago I remember going to a supermarket petrol station which was on the other side of the road. Though must be a pain in the backside for staff moving things like bottles of soft drink, newspapers, sweets etc across the road.

Stumble Bum · 26 Sep 2021 at 18:51

Craterloads · 26 Sep 2021 at 19:27

So is a HGV driver a worthwhile career to go into now?

Dis86 · 26 Sep 2021 at 19:32

Craterloads said:
So is a HGV driver a worthwhile career to go into now?

Depends, can you do something that's better? If not, yes.

Lmg80 · 26 Sep 2021 at 19:44

Just popped out now to my local, busier than usual but 5min wait. Laughing at those who have wasted countless time queuing since Friday and weekend.
Just checked Google maps for traffic, Tesco was 'busier than usual', independent straight onto the forecourt yet took longer as both vans in front brimmed.
If I could not fill up, it would have just been WFH

WoZZeR · 26 Sep 2021 at 20:03

Nasher said:
Yea I'm seeing that all over. I live in a small town with a Sainburys in the middle, which also has one entrance for everything. People are queued down the high street and blocking everything including driveways.

Craterloads said:
So is a HGV driver a worthwhile career to go into now?

We've had 3 pay rises this year plus a couple of bonus schemes

Mikeey · 26 Sep 2021 at 20:40

WoZZeR said:
Also roads are dire now, most of the major routes are start/stop on a regular basis, most big distribution centres/factories give you 30 minutes to an hour either side of your booking time, outside this and they will make you wait at their leisure, so rubbish run down the motorway often leads to a long day sitting around waiting. Add to this periodic CPC training, efficient economical driving trackers scoring the drivers on their performance and lastly the drivers hours rules including the wtd and it's easy to see why people would prefer a job where they can get home for tea instead of having a rubbish meal at the services and a disturbed nights sleep in the cab.

True. Plus a lot of road diversions taking place at night must be a nightmare as well.

mikeo · 26 Sep 2021 at 20:50

Madness... our small independent petrol station is now out of fuel! WTF!!

The woman who runs it said that they sold more fuel over the weekend, then they would in a normal week! I rather hope when they next get a fuel delivery, that they start limiting the amount people can buy (excluding emergency services etc.). If I run out, then it's more than an hour and a half round trip (on unpaved / unlit roads / no buses) to reach any sort of shop to buy even a loaf of bread.

It will be like when the panic buying started last year, folks driving from town coming and stripping the selves bare in local rural shops. A couple of the local stores even started only serving locals that they knew. As it's their custom that keeps these sorts of shops open all year.

Life....

cheesefest · 26 Sep 2021 at 20:50

Mikeey said:
True. Plus a lot of road diversions taking place at night must be a nightmare as well.

One road closure of a strip of road about 300m for night repairs has caused diversions of 22 miles! Some roads on diversion has sharp bends. Must be a nightmare for drivers

GR63 · 26 Sep 2021 at 21:20

it will pass. only so many idiots can brim their tanks and only once....

Uther · 26 Sep 2021 at 21:45

GR63 said:
it will pass. only so many idiots can brim their tanks and only once....

Then they'll go back with jerry cans...

GR63 · 26 Sep 2021 at 22:06

and once those are full the idiocy will pass...

cheesefest · 26 Sep 2021 at 22:10

Someone on marketplace on FB is selling 5l of petrol for £1000! FFS!

lsg1r · 26 Sep 2021 at 23:26

Nasher said:
If I was running it I'd say close the forecourt when the tanks are half way down and only allow in emergency vehicles and police.

Had a quick chat with the Tesco delivery driver on Saturday and he said they'd closed the pumps in my local store to all but their delivery vans (and we assumed emergency vehicles) due to lack of supply, this was at 10am in the morning too. So some places are using their head a little.

No idea what the supply is like right now because everything I've seen online seems to be contradicting another post a few minutes earlier, at least locally.

Worst thing for me is I do actually need to get some fuel sooner rather than later, getting to that point where I don't have a choice, but at the same time don't actually want to waste what little I have left on a wild goose chase...

Combat squirrel · 26 Sep 2021 at 23:43

Brexit's coming home to roost then - ridiculous. there is no fuel issues in the rest of the world, several friends of mine in the EU say its absolutely fine over there, only the UK!