Panic buying

[Gareth Collier]

27 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

There were no queues or congestion, I could have swapped to another pump if I had needed to, it was no more or less busy than a typical day there and that was with the pay at pumps (8 of them) locked out.

As opposed to the absolute chaos down here. Total grid lock all around the town wherever there's a supermarket. You obviously live in an area with a higher average IQ

[Platform 1]

No real problems here in N. Somerset.  Short queue in Tesco filling station this afternoon, but only half the pumps were in use.  Not sure if that is cause or consequence.  A short distance away is an independent fuel stop - busy but no queue, no limits, pretty normal for a Saturday. 

 

A different story in South Devon yesterday.  Queues everywhere, compounded by road works near to filling stations, and Friday/weekend traffic.  A neighbour there reported he'd found the diesel pump empty - a following mini-bus driver bellowed at him for not knowing how to work the pump and nearly had an altercation!   It also seems that another large superMarket chain run their own fuel tankers and their own drivers - their supply chain is secure as long as everyone doesn't keep being silly.

 

According to the checkout lady at the first-mentioned grocers, it was very busy in the main shop this morning, big rush for staples she said.  I noticed large gaps for some flavours of soup, and bread stock seemed low even for a Saturday.  Plenty of seasonal chocs though...

 

[MJI]

I am having to work in the office next week and the commute for the week is more than what is left in the tank.

 

Currently investigating maximum amount of cooking oil I can mix in before wrecking fuel pump or injectors.

 

Tractor juice is sold out.

[JeremyC]

[Bernard Lamb]

Grant Shapps was scheduled to attend a meeting at the big Tesco, Hatfield today. He is the local MP.

For some reason the meeting was cancelled at short notice.

Bernard

[big jim]

I’m ina taxi from rugby to bescot at the moment and the driver stopped at the Tesco for fuel, only about a 5 minute wait in the queue, no more than a normal Saturday afternoon really

 

hopefully i can get some diesel when I get back to crewe later as I’m in the red and I want to go out to leek with the bike on the roof rack tomorrow to do the leek and manifold trail! 
 

whatever happens next week (as it has been the last 3 months) I can use the bike every day for work anyway 

[APOLLO]

19 minutes ago, JeremyC said:

 

Put a Tiger in your tank !!!!

 

Brit15

[Denbridge]

On 08/03/2020 at 20:40, ikcdab said:

Meanwhile, last year in the USA, 35 million people caught flu and 50000 died from it. Nothing different expected this year. So quite why the panic about coronavirus?

The coronavirus has killed 685,000 people in the USA so far. Far more than 50,000 flu deaths. Maybe that's why people panic.

[woodenhead]

2 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

As opposed to the absolute chaos down here. Total grid lock all around the town wherever there's a supermarket. You obviously live in an area with a higher average IQ

Not quite, the people who live in affluent Wilmslow are concerned how they will be getting to work next week as all the fuel has gone.  I am guessing the larger volume of Chelsea tractors in that area will drain the pumps a lot faster.

[chris p bacon]

I stopped at a local garage to pick up some red diesel for the digger, as I filled my container a couple of cars pulled up behind me and waited. When I'd finished I spoke to the first driver and said "It's red diesel for off road" to which the driver replied "f off I don't care and it's none of your business"

I went in, paid and spoke to the attendant who said, I've seen them and turned the pump off.

 

As I walked back to the truck I couldn't help but laugh at him stood there clicking the pump handle trying to make it work.

[beast66606]

1 hour ago, JeremyC said:

 

To make sure he doesn't get lost en route he's got a CatNav fitted

Edited September 25, 2021 by beast66606

[andytrains]

I suppose it will be doing the night time deliveries, so it can follow the 'Cats Eyes'.

[J. S. Bach]

On 25/09/2021 at 12:53, JeremyC said:

Although he did not drive it , this cat:

 

lived in this tractor:

 

and was very uncomfortable when outside of it. He was the traveling companion for many years of this driver and lived probably 80% of its life in a semi tractor.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To change "like" to "life".

[SamThomas]

Yesterday, I left the depot in a fully loaded 18 tonner with 30 cages of groceries for 7 x outletson board.

About half were filling stations - only at the first one was I able to park the truck on the fourcourt due to the amount of selfish cretins filling their tanks. The others, I ended up parked on busy roads adding to the chaos wheeling the cages accross - thanks to those drivers who allwed me the time to do so - to those who almost pushed me out of their way whilst pushing heavy cages I hope you die a long, slow, painful & miserable death.

 

On my way home after a 15 hour duty spread I could not buy any diesel. So, today I could not work, but that meant that something like 10 tonnes of groceries & provisions did not end up on the shelves further compounding the problem.

 

The company I work for has plenty of their own diesel but cannot let us drivers have any/sell any for legal reasons so if it gets that bad we will end up taking our trucks home !

[black and decker boy]

I’ve returned to my favourite panic buying pastime. Craft ale.
 

I can cope without petrol & diesel, have sufficient toilet roll for a couple of months and a well stocked freezer and great local butchers & grocers so not reliant on supermarkets for mainstay foods. I also have a winters worth of home grown spuds outside.

 

sadly, I can’t brew my own beer so like the peace of mind of having a few bottles in stock and they seem to only come in packs of 12 direct from microbreweries - what’s a man to do when he likes more than 1 flavour!!!

[Sir TophamHatt]

Yesterday was worse than today on the three or so petrol stations I pass on the way to work.

Yesterday one was barriered off.  Today, our local Asda had it's petrol station barriered off.

 

What people don't seem to care about is this messes stuff up ordering petrol.

Our local supermarket knows how much on average to order and when to do it.  Now they need to order some now but that then messes up the data - when do they order the next lot?  Because the rate of people filling up will go down a little as everyone filled up yesterday.

 

I really wonder what goes through people's heads sometimes.

[SM42]

Mrs SM42 dropped in to Sainsbury's  this morning at 0730 to do the weekly shop, and being just above fuel light stopped at the petrol station. Busy but not any more than say at a normal time of day. 

Lots of diesel but unleaded hit and miss. Got lucky on 2nd pump having done a circuit of the one way system to get back round.

 

Heading home tonight people still queueing. 

Perhaps they are the ones who waited for the initial panic to die down. 

 

Hopefully things will calm down a bit over the next few days. 

 

In the meantime I have become a hyper miler. 

I apologise to all those I may delay as I pull off the lights nice and gently. 

 

Andy

 

[laurenceb]

I was told of someone who is a cfr who had queue up at 23:00 last night

[big jim]

What’s a cfr? 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I really wonder what goes through people's heads sometimes.

 

The breeze in one ear and out the other?

 

[Jonboy]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

What’s a cfr? 

I am assuming he means a community first responder, who are local residents that assist the ambulance service by standing by with oxygen, AED and other medical supplies (and having committed to a not small amount of training) in their local area by providing a very quick local response, often in their own vehicle, until the big boys arrive…

 

 

Went out tonight and all four petrol stations I passed seemingly had no fuel left…

 

 

[laurenceb]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

What’s a cfr? 

Sorry,  community first responder ( B Bishop of this parish is one I think)

[big jim]

I had a feeling it was first responder just after I posted the question but wasn’t sure about the C bit 

 

just cycled past the nearest petrol station to me on the way home from the station and there was a queue of about 10-15 cars waiting out in the main road cars waiting to go in for fuel, earlier today I really thought it was all just a one day panic and over reaction after the taxi I was in got fuel in rugby with virtually no wait but after seeing that at just before midnight tonight I really despair that This won’t be the last of the madness we see for a while!

 

Thank god I’ve got a good shift pattern  that I can use the bike all next week 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by big jim

[andytrains]

CRF.

Why are we having to do this ?

The Government should be be funding these services with enough money to provide the level of service we need and deserve.

 

 

[SM42]

5 hours ago, andytrains said:

CRF.

Why are we having to do this ?

The Government should be be funding these services with enough money to provide the level of service we need and deserve.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the majority don't like paying for such levels of service.

 

Andy