Panic at the Pumps

[Carth]

The last Government to have any public credibility was . . .


*searching


. . . hang on, it must be noted somewhere



*still searching




. . . there has to be something, don't go away




*starting to panic




. . . aaah found it




. . . erm . . can anyone read hieroglyphics

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Carth

The last Government to have any public credibility was . . .


*searching


. . . hang on, it must be noted somewhere



*still searching




. . . there has to be something, don't go away




*starting to panic




. . . aaah found it




. . . erm . . can anyone read hieroglyphics

. . . aaah found it

Thatcher up to 1989.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Thatcher up to 1989.

Yes and probably Blair's jurisdiction pre-Iraq.

---------- Post added at 19:20 ---------- Previous post was at 19:20 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

Good question. He's the Secretary of State for Transport, apparently. I'd assumed the post must have been vacant...

The post may not be vacant...

[nffc]

Originally Posted by Chris

Indeed. But if 80% of the shortage is caused by the pandemic, plus historically poor working conditions and low pay, and 20% or less is attributable to EU drivers no longer working in the UK, why, I wonder, are some people so desperate to obsess over the 20% rather than the 80%?

Actually I don't really wonder. It seems pretty clear that the usual suspects are continuing to latch on to anything that feeds the false "Brexit crisis" narrative they can't seem to escape from.

You are exactly right here Chris.


We were short of drivers before Brexit, which has no doubt heightened the issue in the short term more than not, but in the long term will probably not.


It's obviously a reason, like all the others, why some are no longer here.



But the poor conditions, and other factors, which are nothing to do with Brexit need to sort themselves out and long term I think the government are doing the right thing distancing themselves from anything but a short term fix.


The Government can't make haulage companies pay their staff more or give them better working conditions where they don't spend 12 hours in a truck on the motorway peeing in a bottle because they don't have time to stop at services.

[Carth]

Could be worse, China - that powerhouse of trade and industry - are having power cuts, which is affecting those companies that moved there to take advantage of . . well whatever it was they gained in doing so.

Add a drop in production to the issues already affecting transporting stuff from there to Europe/USA and we're in for some fun and games


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/...s-power-crunch

Won't need as many HGV drivers when there's not as much reaching the ports

[Pierre]

This was taken just earlier in the waste lands of West Yorkshire

[pip08456]

LMAO at this.

The chaos on Great Britain’s petrol station forecourts has been worsened by hundreds of panicking motorists filling their tanks with the wrong kind of fuel, breakdown services have reported.

With queues snaking hundreds of metres from some filling stations – and tension building between motorists in places, more than five times as many people as usual in the UK have mistakenly put diesel in their petrol engine or vice versa.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ith-wrong-fuel

Originally Posted by jfman

And if the Government had any credibility telling people not to panic would count for something. Similarly if people had faith that the Government could intervene for the purposes of alleviating any problems.

However the Government lacks credibility and almost nobody believes they could resolve the issue within a reasonable timeframe. Entirely rational actors are going out and topping up “just in case”.

Full marks for another laughable attempt to pin this on 'the government'.
I really dont know how you expect to be taken seriously, or perhaps you dont, and you're just trolling again.
Its clear to everyone that this was a panic started by the media, and once it set it, no amount of words from anyone could stop it.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Paul

Full marks for another laughable attempt to pin this on 'the government'.
I really dont know how you expect to be taken seriously, or perhaps you dont, and you're just trolling again.
Its clear to everyone that this was a panic started by the media, and once it set it, no amount of words from anyone could stop it.

Whatever the reason we have a shortage of HGV drivers. The Govt have been warned about this for several months before taking panic action like emergency visas, bringing the army in etc., and not taken that action until the proverbial has hit the fan.

The Govt are responsible as they are in charge. Not too much to expect them to do forward planning. It's what we pay their wages for.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Whatever the reason we have a shortage of HGV drivers. The Govt have been warned about this for several months before taking panic action like emergency visas, bringing the army in etc., and not taken that action until the proverbial has hit the fan.

The Govt are responsible as they are in charge. Not too much to expect them to do forward planning. It's what we pay their wages for.

Where do you expect these HGV drivers to come from?

Considering, as many have said, the pay and conditions here are worse than anywhere else why would they come here rather than anywhere else in europe which also has a shortage?

Do you not think logistics companiies would have been better off training up drivers to replace the 20% lost by EU drivers returning home etc rather than relying on that cheap source of labour?

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Paul

Full marks for another laughable attempt to pin this on 'the government'.
I really dont know how you expect to be taken seriously, or perhaps you dont, and you're just trolling again.
Its clear to everyone that this was a panic started by the media, and once it set it, no amount of words from anyone could stop it.

I’m certainly not trolling, however I don’t take the stance that the Government are absolutely passive actors in every crisis going and they get a free pass simply because they delivered Brexit. It’s going to be a massive collapse into becoming a failed state if a one off event in 2016 leaves them absolutely unaccountable forever more.

I’m more than happy to call Starmer crap if that helps matters.

The free market has shown itself incapable, or unwilling, to take actions required. For something as important as fuel supply who else is there to intervene?

---------- Post added at 08:56 ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 ----------

Originally Posted by pip08456

LMAO at this.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...ith-wrong-fuel

And we trust these people to take “personal responsibility”.

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by Paul

Full marks for another laughable attempt to pin this on 'the government'.
I really dont know how you expect to be taken seriously, or perhaps you dont, and you're just trolling again.
Its clear to everyone that this was a panic started by the media, and once it set it, no amount of words from anyone could stop it.

Isn't that suggesting that the great British public believe the media more than the Government or industry experts? It doesn't bode well for the future of this country if that is the case.

(of course, everyone here is a genius who makes their own mind up and ignores the media)

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by jfman

I’m certainly not trolling, however I don’t take the stance that the Government are absolutely passive actors in every crisis going and they get a free pass simply because they delivered Brexit. It’s going to be a massive collapse into becoming a failed state if a one off event in 2016 leaves them absolutely unaccountable forever more.

I’m more than happy to call Starmer crap if that helps matters.

The free market has shown itself incapable, or unwilling, to take actions required. For something as important as fuel supply who else is there to intervene?

---------- Post added at 08:56 ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 ----------



And we trust these people to take “personal responsibility”.

I trust no-one to do anything.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by pip08456

Where do you expect these HGV drivers to come from?

Considering, as many have said, the pay and conditions here are worse than anywhere else why would they come here rather than anywhere else in europe which also has a shortage?

Do you not think logistics companiies would have been better off training up drivers to replace the 20% lost by EU drivers returning home etc rather than relying on that cheap source of labour?

Potentially not. There’s now a clearly limited supply across the industry which in turn allows them to charge higher prices to customers in the interim for essentially providing the same service. It’s not a market that others can readily enter to introduce supply to apply downward pressure on the price.

---------- Post added at 09:03 ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 ----------

Originally Posted by pip08456

I trust no-one to do anything.

quite right.

[nomadking]

If you picture the average British lorry driver, chances are it's a white, middle-aged man. The UK haulage industry is dominated by them and over the next 10 years as many as 80,000 could retire.


It will leave a large hole to plug, at a time when haulage firms are having trouble recruiting. As many as 24,000 each year will be needed, says Skills for Logistics (SfL) - the body overseeing lorry driver training in the UK.
It could affect us all. The doomsday scenario of empty supermarket shelves is dismissed, but if firms have to ramp up pay to recruit drivers, that cost could trickle down to the consumer.

Guess the year. Clue: before Brexit.

Spoiler: 

Tuesday, 3 July 2007