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Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

reuters.com

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Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#51

Post by ethnt »

sgt wrote: post #21

TBH I still think Brexit is a good choice for Britain. The EU is a terribly inefficient and hopeless organization (but perhaps I am a bit biased, I've always been opposed to the EU because it's far too heavy weight). Of course, they will suffer economically for a while, but that was part of the game with Brexit. The voters however - were slightly lied to regarding the immediate downsides. It's probably important to k…

It absolutely was not the right choice for the UK (not just Britain, don't forget about Northern Ireland). The EU has definitely shown itself to be quick when it needs to be, and in general has improved life for the average person. There are nothing but downsides in the immediate and long-term future for the UK without the EU — these economic consequences are not easily solvable, and the Tories have not shown themselves capable of actually solving these problems.

The UK had a very privileged place in the EU before, and was able to punch above their weight. When they inevitably rejoin they certainly won't be able to hold that special status again.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#52

Post by joeberon »

sgt wrote: post #21

TBH I still think Brexit is a good choice for Britain. The EU is a terribly inefficient and hopeless organization (but perhaps I am a bit biased, I've always been opposed to the EU because it's far too heavy weight). Of course, they will suffer economically for a while, but that was part of the game with Brexit. The voters however - were slightly lied to regarding the immediate downsides. It's probably important to k…

As a Brit, I think "slightly lied to" is a huge under-exaggeration. Literally everyone I spoke to who voted for Brexit did so entirely on the lies, for example the NHS money thing, specific claims about removing "foreigners", and promises of rebuilding of British-only enterprises.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#53

Post by heywherelogingo »

jack_riminton wrote: post #33
bayesian_horse wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was unclear as to why there is no gas. Is it because there are no drivers to drive the gas to the stations or because the general energy supply for GB currently sucks?

The official line is that there is a lack of truck drivers, which is mostly true because Brexit has prevented a lot of the foreign drivers from working

No mention of lockdown effects detracts from the credibility of that comment.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#54

Post by bayesian_horse »

jack_riminton wrote: post #33
bayesian_horse wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was unclear as to why there is no gas. Is it because there are no drivers to drive the gas to the stations or because the general energy supply for GB currently sucks?

The official line is that there is a lack of truck drivers, which is mostly true because Brexit has prevented a lot of the foreign drivers from working

It's definitely true that they lack truckers. They don't just grow on trees, and when a few tens of thousands leave, well...

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#55

Post by Sanguinaire »

telmo wrote: post #16
davzie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly think Brexit was only a very small part of this. It's probably also a combination of IR35 making the entire endeavour not worthwhile for UK AND European workers and the government not having enough HGV tests available to bring newly qualified drivers into the workforce. It's a combination of a lot of different things.

What a coincidence that something that was claimed for years to be a likely outcome of Brexit happened right in the aftermath of Brexit.... but it turns out that it was mostly unrelated to Brexit. What. A. Coincidence.

From a purely selfish perspective, the worst outcome of the pandemic so far is that it has served as a distraction and shield for Tories who bungled Brexit and have yet to face any political consequences.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#56

Post by thrwyoilarticle »

pjc50 wrote: post #2

Appears to be _mostly_ a mediagenic phenomenon: the driver shortage caused a few stations to run out, a minister told everyone not to panic buy, so they immediately started panic buying. Like the great toilet paper shortage. The lorry driver shortage inflicted by Brexit is starting to cause problems, though.

>Like the great toilet paper shortage.

I'm drawn to die on this hill every time. The toilet paper shortage made sense.

At the start of the first lockdown in the UK, we were told to minimise contact with others. This meant that it made sense for a daily shopper to become a weekly shopper & a weekly shopper to become a biweekly shopper. And if you're shopping less frequently but consuming at the same rate, you'll be buying more volume each time. Shops don't have the means to react to an overnight doubling of demand, so the shelves became empty.

To be efficient is to stop being resilient. The world runs on JIT. And if you buck that trend and make things resilient, you can't compete on price. So it's a race to the bottom where all it takes is one off-white swan event for things to fall apart. Does your country have food security? Does your country have energy security? If it does, what would it take for that to stop being true?

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#57

Post by callamdelaney »

bayesian_horse wrote: post #37
mschuster91 wrote: post #25

Well... looks like the UK are the next in line to discover that paying people in essential industries shit wages leads to said shit outcomes. Over many decades, employees in easy-to-learn and especially easy-to-outsource jobs were treated as disposable cogs, and now after Corona and other crisis crunches the whole house of cards comes crushing down.

They would still be in the UK doing their shit jobs for shit wages, if they had a better visa situation...

There is a massive shortage of HGV drivers across Europe and has been for years. 'It should be noted first and foremost that Britain’s driver shortage is not a new phenomenon. Even in the heady days before Covid or Brexit, the UK was already lacking around 76,000 drivers, according to Logistics UK.'[1]

[1] https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/supply-chain/the-real-causes-of-...

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#58

Post by bayesian_horse »

heywherelogingo wrote: post #53
jack_riminton wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The official line is that there is a lack of truck drivers, which is mostly true because Brexit has prevented a lot of the foreign drivers from working

No mention of lockdown effects detracts from the credibility of that comment.

no other country with a lockdown is having the same problem, and GB sort of stopped their lockdowns a while ago, didn't they?

Workers aren't prevented from travelling because of Covid restrictions, but Visa restrictions do apply. Also it's not a good prospect to move to a country where you feel like you are on some kind of a migratory ejection seat...

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#59

Post by kipchak »

fallingknife wrote: post #34
thinkingemote wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People on the whole do not know what "panic buying" actually is. I've had multiple conversations which run along the line of "I'm not panic buying, I am rational. I'm only buying this because others are panicking and there wont be any left for me. "

Sounds like they do understand panic buying. The issue is that it's completely rational on an individual level. "Panic" buying isn't really a good term for it.

In the northeast it was typically bread and milk (and also toilet paper) people would stock up on before a big storm often causing shortages. I've seen "French Toast Alert" used but it's a bit too cute to quite capture it. [1]https://www.universalhub.com/french-toast

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#60

Post by jack_riminton »

heywherelogingo wrote: post #53
jack_riminton wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The official line is that there is a lack of truck drivers, which is mostly true because Brexit has prevented a lot of the foreign drivers from working

No mention of lockdown effects detracts from the credibility of that comment.

Which is why I said mostly. Unless you'd care to exactly quantify the reasons?
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