UK petrol crisis: Will military deliveries make a difference?

by Ben Reilly Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:38 pm

Armed forces personnel will begin delivering petrol to garages across the UK from Monday, the government says.

Almost 200 servicemen and women, 100 of them drivers, will provide "temporary" support to ease pressure on stations.

Ministers have also announced that up to 300 overseas fuel tanker drivers will be able to work in the UK immediately until the end of March.

There have been long queues at petrol stations this week after a shortage of drivers disrupted fuel deliveries.

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Ministers - who have maintained there is enough fuel if people buy at their normal rates - say the situation at petrol station forecourts is improving, with more fuel now being delivered than sold.

But they acknowledge some parts of the country are worse affected than others.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents nearly 5,500 of the UK's 8,300 petrol stations said Scotland, the north of England and parts of the Midlands had seen a "distinct improvement" with fewer dry sites.

But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it remained a "big problem" in London and south-east England, where "if anything it had got worse."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58766648

Stands to reason that the more trucks out there shipping gas across the country, the better.

Sorry about "trucks" and "gas" but I am still American ...

by eddie Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:56 pm

The queues for petrol these past few days have been stupidly stupid! Cars queuing for over two hours, punch-ups, traffic jams...bunch of idiots. I blame the media for hyping the “petrol crisis” up. There’s no shortage of petrol, just lorry drivers.

These are the same fuckwits who panic-bought toilet rolls during the pandemic. Idiots. Rolling Eyes

by Ben Reilly Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:02 pm

I only see media outlets reporting what's happening and what people are saying; I really don't think they're ginning it up. Of course they're all over the story, but that's just what the media does when people are curious about something going on in the world.

by Vintage Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:06 pm

Can you imagine the turmoil if it was something really serious, people would be killing each other.

by eddie Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:12 pm

Vintage wrote:Can you imagine the turmoil if it was something really serious, people would be killing each other.

If people turned off their TV’s and didn’t read the news, the country would have carried on the same.
It’s just madness.

by Maddog Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:53 pm

eddie wrote:The queues for petrol these past few days have been stupidly stupid! Cars queuing for over two hours, punch-ups, traffic jams...bunch of idiots. I blame the media for hyping the “petrol crisis” up. There’s no shortage of petrol, just lorry drivers.

These are the same fuckwits who panic-bought toilet rolls during the pandemic. Idiots.

If there is a shortage of delivery services there is a shortage for the consumer.

Doesn't matter.how much petrol is in the area, if it's not accessible at a pump.

This is much of the problem of the global supply chain issues. It's not about where the product exists, but about moving that product to where it needs to be.

by eddie Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:58 pm

Maddog, people were panic-buying. There is fuel, they just got all het up over media stories. Now I don’t blame the media for people being idiots...they’ll be idiots anyway, but the media stories don’t help.

by Maddog Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:03 pm

eddie wrote:Maddog, people were panic-buying. There is fuel, they just got all het up over media stories. Now I don’t blame the media for people being idiots...they’ll be idiots anyway, but the media stories don’t help.

Panic buying is usually the result of real shortages though. If it was only panic buying there would be no need for military drivers. It would sort itself out after a couple of days. Same thing happens here after hurricanes because the refineries shut down for a few days and folks freak out. But after about 3 days everyone has all the gas they need and it'd back to normal.

by Vintage Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:04 pm

There's a story of a woman (had to be) pulled in to a petrol station and took 15 mins to put £2.67 worth of petrol in her car and pay and drive off out of the way, holding up people genuinely needing fuel.

by eddie Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:09 pm

Vintage wrote:There's a story of a woman (had to be) pulled in to a petrol station and took 15 mins to put £2.67 worth of petrol in her car and pay and drive off out of the way, holding up people genuinely needing fuel.

Ridiculous

by Vintage Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:15 pm

There is plenty of fuel, if people weren't so selfish we'd all be ok until the deliveries can be made. It was the same with toilet rolls and its the same when snow is forecast if you don't go to the shops immediately after the broadcast all the bread and milk has gone within the hour, then it probably gets thrown away a couple of days later as its out of date and the snow has gone or at least the traffic is running again..

by Tommy Monk Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:00 pm

There is no shortage of petrol/diesel drivers... The regular lorry drivers can't just jump in and drive a fuel tanker, they need special training and certification.

There is a slight shortage of regular drivers though, but nothing to do with Brexit because other EU countries have a similar number of shortfalls.

Here there are 2 main reasons why, covid shutdowns meant new drivers wanting to become hgv couldn't train or do tests and many drivers worked as self employed under their own ltd company structure and didn't get any money from the govt except for a tiny "bounce back loan", so just either left the industry to do other work or left the country etc... Also the new ir35 rules have reduced take home wages of many of those who were still here and doing hgv work making it much less viable to carry on.

There is still also a huge backlog of licenses not yet been issued by DVLA because most of them are 'working from home' doing fuk all!!!

by eddie Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:37 pm

You’re quite correct Tommy.

by Ben Reilly Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:41 pm

A large number of lorry drivers did return to Europe after Brexit, though. Roughly 20,000.

by Tommy Monk Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:34 pm

Not because of Brexit, but for the reasons I've mentioned.

by Tommy Monk Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:40 pm

I read a story that about 200 cars/vehicles were following a tanker, thinking it would be delivering fuel... But it was carrying mortar for a building site... And when it stopped at the site, the driver realised they were all following him... And one of the car drivers even had the cheek to tell him that he was out of order for not telling them sooner that he was not carrying fuel!!!

lol!

by Tommy Monk Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:27 am

eddie wrote:You’re quite correct Tommy.

As always Eddie, as always!

lol!

by Fred Moletrousers Mon Oct 04, 2021 6:40 pm

If the drivers operate under the orders of the officer commanding the transport unit of which they are members the answer to the question is probably yes.
If, however, ultimate decisions are made the responsibility of some pen-pushing regional officer of the Department of Transport the effectiveness of the operation is likely to be minimal.
If local councils are put in control, the chances of the squaddies and their army tankers being sent to the right place on the right day and at the right time will be precisely zero.

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