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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

#131

Post by [deleted] »

teorema wrote: post #82
qzw wrote: post #5

> "The free movement of labour is part of the European Union, and we tried very hard to convince the British not to leave the Union," said Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor. "They decided differently. I hope they will manage the problems coming from that," Scholz said. Man, I can smell the schadenfreude from all the way over here.

... except there's also news reports everywhere of an energy crisis in Europe too? Also maybe Asia as well. I've been trying to read into the causes and dont feel like I've come to understand it any better. I'm tempted to see it as part of the broader supply chain crisis but I get the impression its a little different. Then again I'm not sure I understand why the broader supply chain disruption is as pervasive as it…

[deleted]

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#132

Post by NovemberWhiskey »

timellis-smith wrote: post #90
bayesian_horse wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there was razor-thin margin for the Leave campaign, with massive lies being told, partially financed by Russia, and the younger generation generally opposed. It makes travelling in the EU harder, let alone it risks upsetting the Ireland situation. You can expect an international audience to disapprove.

That's quite a claim. Do you have some strong evidence to back it up? The electoral commission went to great lengths and expense to find any wrong doing and came up with nothing. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20... Edit: Rant alert: It really irks me that the people who call the Brexit election unfair, don't seem to acknowledge that Britain was never given any kind of referendum when joini…

It's worth saying that the UK has essentially no long-standing history of direct plebiscite / national referendum as a democratic process. Ironically, the first I'm aware of was the 1975 vote on EC membership.

You're right that there was no referendum for the Treaty of Maastricht which formally created "the European Union", but I think that places undue significance on that single event in terms of the trajectory of the European communities.

Personally, I don't think the Brexit referendum was unfair (what does that even mean?).

I do think that "the Brexit that was voted for" (i.e. the Leave platform) was quite different from "the Brexit that we got", and I therefore have some sympathy with those who ask for another vote. Whether the difference between the two versions of Brexit is down to deliberate lies, misunderstanding of the scope and complexity, wrong expectations about the ease of concluding agreements with trade partners, I cannot even begin to guess.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#133

Post by chrononaut »

TomGullen wrote: post #17

Unlike the toilet paper panic buying there is limited capacity people can buy, so I would expect this to naturally end short term when people don’t have capacity to buy any more. What concerns me is government planning to address this looks a lot more forward looking than a few days/a week, so I can see it getting worse. Interesting how the government say it’s not a shortage, if the refineries were running low you wo…

> ..as I think most people are just filling up to the top instead of half way..

Perhaps I am missing something here, but are you referring to vehicles in this context? Is it not common to always fill your tank to the top?

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#134

Post by JimmyAxod »

prof-dr-ir wrote: post #78
JimmyAxod wrote: post #49

The media need to be held accountable here. Everyone in the industry is telling anyone who will listen that there is no shortage of petrol (gas), and there is no shortage of drivers. Yet the media are still whipping the story because it’s selling papers/views/clicks etc for them. This is yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre, when there is no fire. There should be prosecutions for this sort of behaviour. Lives will be…

Your claim that "there is no shortage of drivers" according to "everyone in the industry" is incorrect. From [0]: BP blamed the restrictions on “delays in the supply change which has been impact by the industry-wide driver shortages across the UK”. Tesco said it had “experienced temporary supply issues caused by driver absences in recent days”, adding: “We expect the situation to improve in the next week and apologis…

I’d suggest you should listen to what the drivers, refinery, and actual garage staff say. I think you’ll get much closer to the truth.

Tesco aren’t rationing petrol due to the “driver crisis”. They are rationing it due to the media telling people to go and panic buy petrol.

As you can see in the article, the only one with driver issues is BP. Other petrol stations have plenty. Yet they are all affected because of the media whipping consumers into panic.

And as you can see in the article, BP reports that “between 50 and 100 stations affected”. Out of 1200!!! That’s not even newsworthy, yet the media are whipping and whipping.

Can you see the issue with the following…

> Petrol stations operated by Morrisons, The Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Asda also said they had no current issues with their fuel supplies, the BBC reported.

> LARGE FONT ALL BOLD! ‘Rapidly worsening crisis’

> Jim McMahon, Shadow Transport Secretary, described the lorry driver shortage as a “rapidly worsening crisis” that required urgent Government attention.

So the petrol stations say it’s all fine, and the article shouts “RAPIDLY WORSENING CRISIS”. This, as I say, is disgraceful reporting, and is shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre where there is no fire.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#135

Post by bluGill »

ben_w wrote: post #98
brianwawok wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a buddy with multiple 50 gallon "drums" he fills up with gas anytime he even suspects that gas price is going to go up. Sounds like a lot of work to maybe save $50, but hey... mostly fun and games (unless you barn catches fire).

Mm. A Facebook friend in the UK just reported a petrol tout to the police for storing more than 15 litres without a licence.

Depends on where you live. Farmers in the US typically have around 8000 liters petro on their farm in various grades. They have a contract with a local company to keep those tanks full of whatever the correct fuel for the current season is. When it is a long way to town and many vehicles never go to town having your own private fuel station starts to make sense.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#136

Post by JimmyAxod »

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #86
JimmyAxod wrote: post #49

The media need to be held accountable here. Everyone in the industry is telling anyone who will listen that there is no shortage of petrol (gas), and there is no shortage of drivers. Yet the media are still whipping the story because it’s selling papers/views/clicks etc for them. This is yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre, when there is no fire. There should be prosecutions for this sort of behaviour. Lives will be…

> Everyone in the industry is telling anyone who will listen that there is no shortage of petrol (gas), and there is no shortage of drivers. If that were true, then there'd be no issue. But things were continuing to worsen before the media reported on it.

No they weren’t. Certainly around here, the order of events was exactly this: * Petrol stations all chugging along normally * Media start scaring people into panic buying * Petrol stations overwhelmed by idiotic buying

In a few days, it will all go away. The sky is not falling.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#137

Post by throwawayboise »

brianwawok wrote: post #81
HPsquared wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More generally, people have limited capacity by how many fuel containers they own. I don't think there is a massive supply of unused jerry cans anywhere, and and in any case it would take several cans to equal a single car tank.

Have a buddy with multiple 50 gallon "drums" he fills up with gas anytime he even suspects that gas price is going to go up. Sounds like a lot of work to maybe save $50, but hey... mostly fun and games (unless you barn catches fire).

Gasoline has a shelf life also, particularly modern gasoline blended with ethanol and other additives. Ever had trouble using last year's gasoline in the lawn mower the following spring?

Diesel generally stores better, but it can have problems with algae growth.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#138

Post by bayesian_horse »

timellis-smith wrote: post #67
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

Brexit may be a (small) part of it, but it certainly isn't the whole picture. Btw much of Europe faces a shortage of drivers as well. There are a number of factors at play including delayed testing because of covid, relatively low wages, and perhaps drivers shifting to more local deliveries e.g. supermarkets post covid due to changing demand. I was speaking to a taxi driver who said the taxi industry was being decima…

The supply of drivers is somewhat fungible, but it doesn't just multiply when demand is high and shrink when it is low.

Those are Human beings that have to be, in essence, "stolen away" from another job, in the case of high school graduates (or whatever you call them) from another potential career. That's why wage isn't the magic wand many people believe it to be. If one industry increases wages (provided they can afford it), another gets the short stick. Unless you "steal" workers from other countries. As the UK did/does successfully for example with health workers...

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#139

Post by InitialLastName »

thrwyoilarticle wrote: post #56
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 bu…

Additionally, everyone moved home and offices emptied out, so the daily/weekly/monthly demand for toilet paper went from 50/50 consumer/industrial to 100% consumer overnight. Those are two very different supply chains, with distinct, roughly (if you'll pardon the pun) incimpatible products, packaging and distribution networks.

Re: Pumps run dry at gas stations in Britain

#140

Post by hardlianotion »

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.

A larger contribution to the driver shortage was the change in self employment status caused by IR35 off payroll legislation.

https://driverrequire.co.uk/ir35 https://www.contractoruk.com/news/0015112ir35_reform_fuellin...

Lorry driver shortage is a fairly common phenom in Europe atm.

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