[MrManor]

This really could be the winter of discontent…..

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b1925612.html

[JR1664]

I filled up today, my Tesco was operating at half capacity...all the front pumps were closed.

[TouringPleb]

It's a handful of petrol stations. There's plenty of fuel, just a couple of delivery routes had to be cancelled due to a lack of drivers.

Typical media trying to create a crisis.

[MrManor]

Originally Posted by TouringPleb

It's a handful of petrol stations. There's plenty of fuel, just a couple of delivery routes had to be cancelled due to a lack of drivers.

Typical media trying to create a crisis.

Stop talking sense FFS

[GOF_430d]

Filled up this morning at Sainsburys with no issues, though on the way to work there were queues of cars at the local Esso station.

[TouringPleb]

I'm wondering if this is a plan by the hauliers and the Road Haulage Association to put pressure on the government to relax visa requirements for European drivers.

They've been saying for a while now we are 80-100,000 drivers short and the government has just said pay better and recruit more British drivers. However, let a few petrol stations go without fuel, doesn't really hurt them economically but creates massive headlines and puts pressure on the government as the last thing they want to see are queues at petrol stations and closed pumps.

Maybe I'm just cynical.

[JR1664]

So panic buying now reported in our area. Two petrol stations closed due to no fuel, one Tesco the other BP but queues forming at others according to twitter. You couldn't make it up.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by JR1664

So panic buying now reported in our area. Two petrol stations closed due to no fuel, one Tesco the other BP but queues forming at others according to twitter. You couldn't make it up.

Everyone panic buying to fill the tank that lasts them 3 months now they wfh

[SkyJawa]

Media yet again need shooting. Fuelling panic buying for no reason.

My mum said she was out this morning to take dog for walk and they were queuing out the station she passes. Stupid.

[dopper99]

The guys with EV's are laughing their heads off.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by dopper99

The guys with EV's are laughing their heads off.

And the ones with a Discovery diesel with a full tank sat on the drive with a flat tyre. Oh, just me?

[KRS_SN]

It is a sad day for the toilet roll community

[Sennen]

Originally Posted by saltyamigo

This was a problem that was always coming at some point as the average age of drivers has risen significantly over the years. Many have either left because they are sick of the lifestyle or are just working out their days till pension as they don't know anything else. There has been very few young people getting into the job for a long time, insurance is pretty much a no go until your 25 and it was hard to get a start with no experience.

Who wants to pay thousands of pounds to train for a job when your unlikely to get a start until your late 20's, then work for relatively low wages with long hours and nights away from home. Roadside facilities and parking are expensive and poor in the UK and you have two different sets of pretty complex time laws to comply with, the EU tachograph laws and the working time directive. You also need to do regular CPC training and medical tests to retain your licence.

Wages have needed to go up for a long time, it's easy to tell businesses this is the simple solution but in many sectors wages are dictated by the supermarkets and how much they are willing to pay. Lack of staff and steeply rising wages, diesel up over 20% compared to this time last year, spare parts getting more expensive and harder to get (apparently we're in for a tyre shortage next). I can see several smaller haulage businesses giving up this year.

Spot on and mirrors a mate of mines thoughts whos Haulage business went 'tits' up earlier this year.

I fear the problems in this sector are just the 'tip of the iceberg' and we are going to be in for a very rough time on many fronts over the next few years.

[Nibbles]

No point filling up with petrol anyway as you'll just drive to a shop to find the shelves are empty.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

No point filling up with petrol anyway as you'll just drive to a shop to find the shelves are empty.

But maybe the shop will be warmer than your own house when the gas runs out.

/DailyMailModeOff

[Nibbles]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

But maybe the shop will be warmer than your own house when the gas runs out.

/DailyMailModeOff

I'm about to complete on an old drafty house with single glazed windows, poor insulation, and the world's oldest most inefficient gas boiler so you are probably right.

[Ennoch]

This is what happens when you knock the balance of something that has taken its time to get to where it is. I know lots of people blamed the Eastern European guys coming over and 'steeling oor jobes' but the reality is that lots of people are absolutely driven by price rather than quality, which always ends up as a race to the bottom. The result is that supermarkets do all in their power to drive down costs (because they don't actually make much per item but rely on volume of sales), whether that be paying low wages to their workers, minimum prices to their suppliers on terrible payment terms, or taking on the lowest charging drivers for their trucks. Companies like ESL who had (still have?) the contract for Tesco then have to compete in this race to the bottom market, shoving the least experienced and thus cheapest drivers in their trucks so as to not lose money. We live in a very skewed world where very few people are willing to pay a fair price for anything because you can always find it discounted somewhere else and thus that becomes the new 'normal' price.

However, maybe we can be positive. Maybe some of these bigger companies going tits up will give other hauliers (and other sectors) the chance to charge a fair price, rather than lots of them all trying to compete for work in a cheapest wins society. Maybe drivers will be able to negotiate fairer wages. The downside to this of course is that the cost of every day items is likely to get hiked because no company will be willing (even if it was able to) because that would then eat into profits and the shareholders would scream blue murder because heaven forbid a company pays its fair taxes (as opposed to legal minimum taxes) and doesn't take the piss with profits! I doubt any of this will happen but it would be nice, wouldn't it?

I think we're about to suffer a good few years of shit, where we suffer not because of sudden changes but the sudden changes making us very aware of the bad decisions we have collectively made as a society over the last ten or twenty years, where we've always gone with the cheapest bidder. Roads are in a state because the state doesn't maintain them anymore and the companies that do will always do the minimum. Railways are in a state because we flog off the contracts for short term so the companies running them rarely invest properly because they've only got the short term view in mind. We're seeing it with power, where we only have a few companies creating power to then sell to other companies who then try to sell it on cheaper by not taking out insurances against price rises and then fail when price rises go exponential, all to in effect be bailed out by the tax payer at great expense. Haulage is but the tip of the iceberg...

[Ennoch]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

I'm about to complete on an old drafty house with single glazed windows, poor insulation, and the world's oldest most inefficient gas boiler so you are probably right.

I think I've just discovered the hidden winner to all this; sheep farmers. Finally they might be able to make money again from wool! My house is double glazed but even in the depths of winter the windows are usually open, and it's a toasty 14-15c. And yes, I have many wooly jumpers

[MashinBenzin]

At least the national treasure broadcaster is using a reassuring picture to avoid spreading panic. Not.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by Ennoch

This is what happens when you knock the balance of something that has taken its time to get to where it is. I know lots of people blamed the Eastern European guys coming over and 'steeling oor jobes' but the reality is that lots of people are …good for nothing racists who wouldn't know how to do a proper day's work

Fixed that for you

Exactly right though, the economy had taken decades to get to the balance it was at, we then ripped the foundations away on the basis that our inherent greatness would see us through. Without putting a plan in place, surprise surprise.

[AyrshireColin]

I think I'm about to just give up and become some kind of hermit. I honestly can't be bothered with the press sensationalising every tiny little piece of news and the idiots who dwell in the country jumping on it and panic buying any longer....

[AyrshireColin]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

At least the national treasure broadcaster is using a reassuring picture to avoid spreading panic. Not.

I assume that means we're at the place where people are filling up Jerry Cans?