Where did all the fuel go?

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Othen

...This reminds me of people buying 150 toilet rolls at a time last year (I'm guessing those people are still using the same toilet rolls now). Just people: nothing much to do with the government, BREXIT, coronavirus or whatever.

Boris and his gang will obviously be pleased that you can so easily forgive them but surely you must question how the UK can so easily fall into a situation where serious shortages can suddenly exist?

How many other supply chains are 'hanging by a thread' waiting merely for the media to do their job and report localised shortages and so easily then bring the whole thing tumbling down?

I'm in no way defending pointless panic buying but people will understandably feel the need to protect themselves when they see fuel stations being closed. The problem definitely existed before the panic buying started, it was merely an over-reaction to a real shortage that exacerbated the situation.

The government has declared that emergency visas will be issued to allow foreign drivers to come here to offset the labour issue. That does confirm official recognition of the problem.

[john.wigley]

Very practical and sage advice from one who clearly knows what he is talking about, David. Thank you for taking the time to offer it. I'm sure that you will have given our young friend much food for thought.

Regards, John.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by Zebster

How many other supply chains are 'hanging by a thread'
.

All of it is mate. Hence the gov now finally getting it and going into panic mode reversing Brexit in this area before it really hits the fan. As you point out…

Alas. Make sure you toe the gov’s line..!

[Whippy]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

I'll declare at the start that I'm a miserable old cynic who's been an HGV driver for 35 years but I would say in the strongest terms don't throw away your IT business for some dream of truck driving and certainly take off the rose tinted specs about being an owner driver in a nice old FH.
The biggest problem in the transport industry is the headlong rush to the bottom, the big companies have subbed out their transport as there's always someone to offer to do it for less, they in turn sub out as much of the operation as they can to someone else willing to do it for less who then subs it out again to someone willing to do it for less etc etc, as an owner operator you're at the end of that foodchain desperately taking the scraps the bigger boys leave behind, last I knew the two businesses with the highest failure rate of startups were Restaurants (cos I love to cook) and Transport (cos I love to drive). There was a catchphrase in transport 'if the wheels ain't turning the truck ain't earning' but many small operators have found some jobs cost more in diesel and time than the rate that is being offered.
MIrrorless 'automatics' are the current gen, manual FH's are the generation before the previous one, and something that old will probably already be banned from going inside the M25, you may not want to go to London but that's where 10% of the UK population live and buy stuff, you can't afford to cut yourself off from 10% of the marketplace. A classic FH may look cool and a fortune spent on alloy wheels and shiny exhaust stacks make them look even better but when you're on your 5th night away in a week it becomes your prison not your limo.
If you've got the cash to spare by all means get an HGV licence (and the CPC) and do some shifts on an agency, there is a great deal of satisfaction in being able to pilot a vehicle 20 times the size of a car on the same roads and into places some car and van drivers would baulk at. And then perhaps take that experience and look at the need for software in the transport sector, we currently suffer from a lot of computerisation with software written by people who don't seem to have a clue what actually happens, that's not their fault as they write the programmes they are asked for with the information they are given, I've lost count of the times I've had to point out to my supervisor that their Drivers' hours monitoring programme is only applying the most basic of the rules. In fairness I once tried to explain drivers' hours rules to a friend with a Masters in AI, and before I got to the good bits a look of confusion crossed his face and he asked incredulously 'And are you supposed to remember all of that?' to whch I replied 'Yep, forwards backwards and sideways, and all while I'm driving'.
I suspect the next generation of trucks will move ever closer to self driving and someone who can write software and actually drive a truck, especially an artic, may be able to add a lot of value to that process.

Yeah, but you forget, we have experts, right here on this forum, experts in the 'supply chain' industry who deny that and will tell you it's just BREXIT. And they're experts.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by Whippy

Yeah, but you forget, we have experts, right here on this forum, experts in the 'supply chain' industry who deny that and will tell you it's just BREXIT. And they're experts.

Gaslight away. Nobody here has said it’s just Brexit. Brexit is what has pushed it over the edge for the U.K. only.

I think Whippy is finally starting to get it..!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Boris and his gang will obviously be pleased that you can so easily forgive them but surely you must question how the UK can so easily fall into a situation where serious shortages can suddenly exist?

How many other supply chains are 'hanging by a thread' waiting merely for the media to do their job and report localised shortages and so easily then bring the whole thing tumbling down?

I'm in no way defending pointless panic buying but people will understandably feel the need to protect themselves when they see fuel stations being closed. The problem definitely existed before the panic buying started, it was merely an over-reaction to a real shortage that exacerbated the situation.

The government has declared that emergency visas will be issued to allow foreign drivers to come here to offset the labour issue. That does confirm official recognition of the problem.

By 'Boris and his gang' may I assume you mean HM government? In that case I don't blame central government for hysterical panic buying. I was rather amused to see this letter to the editor in today's newspaper though:



... as I said in my piece above: this is just people, nothing much to do with the government, BREXIT or coronavirus.

:-)

Alan

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by Othen

By 'Boris and his gang' may I assume you mean HM government? In that case I don't blame central government for hysterical panic buying. I was rather amused to see this letter to the editor in today's newspaper though:



... as I said in my piece above: this is just people, nothing much to do with the government, BREXIT or coronavirus.

:-)

Alan

I would be careful with an anecdotal story published in the Torygraph….

But yes that’s certainly the spirit!! 👍 👍

[Whippy]

Originally Posted by Cull06

Gaslight away. Nobody here has said it’s just Brexit. Brexit is what has pushed it over the edge for the U.K. only.

I think Whippy is finally starting to get it..!

"Darling?" I think the monkey's learnt a new word"!

"Really? What?"

"Gaslighting"

"Oh dear, it's been reading those old copies of the Guardian I use to line the bottom of its box".

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Cull06

I would be careful with an anecdotal story published in the Torygraph….

But yes that’s certainly the spirit!! 👍 👍

Thank you for that note of support.

Well, my piece above (post #59) was anecdotal - I didn't measure anything scientifically (although I am a surveyor by profession, so I suppose I could have) - but I did confirm my own thoughts that there is no desperate problem and the fuel shortage is entirely the result of panic buying whipped up by the media, I did that by observing a gas station at first hand.

My confirmed view is that we have just moved the immediate stocks of petrol and diesel from safe underground storage tanks to people's vehicles, and worse still jerry cans in their sheds. My guess is that a week's normal supply has moved in a few days, and the situation will very soon stabilise now that people don't have any more storage space in their cars or homes (indeed consumption may dip a little as they use up the jerry cans - just like the toilet rolls that still have in the garage from last year)

The anecdotal letter to the Telegraph (I'm not sure I like the term Torygraph much) from the lady in Portugal was pertinent, and I saw no reason why she would lie. I spent most of my adult life working overseas, and on returning to the UK 8 years ago I'm pleased to say that our logistic systems measure up pretty well and support us 66 million Britons with fewer hiccups than most nations. Most Britons have little experience of living elsewhere (apart from on holiday in Magaluf) and therefore have a tendency to assume everything (the health system, democracy, equality, social welfare, education, tax, wages, pensions, the supply system, the price of fish...) is much worse than everywhere else. Having lived many other places during my career (of 33 years) I'd say the opposite is true and most things operate pretty well in the UK.

The UK's fuel supply system didn't suddenly break on Thursday last week; known weaknesses were being managed and nothing much would have happened but for a deliberate leak of sensitive information. It would appear the source of that leak to the media feeding frenzy was by the Road Haulage Association, a body with a vested interest in importing foreign HGV drivers in order to keep wages down within the haulage industry. My view is that as an independent nation of 66 million we should be able to generate sufficient lorry drivers (or doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists...) ourselves. To finish, here is another anecdote taken from today's Telegraph newspaper which accords with my sentiments (and I think much of the nation's) entirely:



Credit to Mr Brooking from Hampshire.

:-)

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by Whippy

Yeah, but you forget, we have experts, right here on this forum, experts in the 'supply chain' industry who deny that and will tell you it's just BREXIT. And they're experts.

According to some the next shortages will be Christmas foods, I can't help thinking the problem is that 52% of turkeys voted in favour of Christmas and still believe their leader that every future Christmas will be wonderful.