Petrol

[Guest]

Maybe you have. But i stand by my comment. Some of us still NEED to have our own transport to get around. Therefore we need access to fuel. Not all of us can live on an island that is only 9.5 miles wide. I don't live on a bus or train route. And even if i did, the time table for our local bus would have me being well over 2 hours late for start of work on normal days and 5.5 hours late on our weaning days. My commute to the farm is a 25 mile trip each way. So i do need my car.

Solved it for you Alan. :smiling5:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

Electric bike. Get you 25 miles easily. Charge at the farm. Cheap compared to a car.
Take a fraction longer. But think of the countryside you can study. :tears-of-joy:

Always use the car in bad weather.

Laurie

[Guest]

The haulage industry needs to get a kick up the backside in my opinion….they are blaming everything and everyone except themselves. A 100000 driver shortage doesn’t happen overnight. It has happened because short sighted companies had a business model based on poaching drivers from poorer countries and giving them poor working conditions and basic wages. Once other opportunities came along with comparable salaries and better working conditions, like local delivery for on line shopping companies, they voted with their feet and moved on. If the haulage firms had been investing in training and ensuring working conditions retained their workforce there would be much less of a shortage.

Totally agreed Tim

Yes I said to Pauline when all this came along. Where has all of this come from. Supermarket shelves full then a shortage how in such a short time. How is it petrol is delivered with out problems since Brexit then in the space of a week 10% of petrol stations are short.

Same is happening to health workers denuding African Nations of their nurses & doctors. Selfish.

[rtfoe]

Haven't experienced this before but have seen long queues at stations the night before a price increase on fuel even for an increase of just 5 sen. You burn up just the same waiting at the que.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

At 7.30 pm yesterday, I drove past three closed petrol stations. Then went to our local T***o. Straight to the diesel pump, pulled out the long hose :flushed:....and shoved some fuel in our camper.
There was a tanker filling up the station tanks as I was filling up my motor.

Before I get shouted at, I had booked and payed for, a two week camping slot starting mid-next week, so I needed to make sure I had some fuel or risk loosing my camp fee wonga.

...otherwise I would have left it to the selfish, don't give a stuff for others, I'm alright Jack tos***s to fight over the fuel......

Ron

Gee Ron you are the very devil :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy:

[Tim Marlow]

Totally agreed Tim

Yes I said to Pauline when all this came along. Where has all of this come from. Supermarket shelves full then a shortage how in such a short time. How is it petrol is delivered with out problems since Brexit then in the space of a week 10% of petrol stations are short.

Same is happening to health workers denuding African Nations of their nurses & doctors. Selfish.

Absolutely right Laurie. One of the reasons my wife left the health service was the completely unethical recruitment policy. The trust she worked for trumpeted its success when it actively recruited the entire staff of a burns unit from a hospital in the Phillippines. To me, that’s nothing short of criminal!

[adt70hk]

Hi all

The idea of 100,000 person driver shortage was actually looked at by BBC Radio 4s More or Less program. The program specialises in looking at statements made by government and organisations to see if they actually hold up.

The figure of 100,000 is apparently derived from three different sources. The Office of National Statistics is responsible for the first two; one is the number of drivers who would have taken a HGV test but couldn't because of Covid so hopefully that's a a figure you can get a reasonable estimate for based on years of historic data. The second is an estimate of the number of EU HGV drivers that returned home to Europe in the run-up to brexit. Again whilst it's probably not an exact science my assumption is that the ONS would have a way of arriving at a reasonably accurate calculation and I would hope would state there was a margin for error.

The third figure and apparently about half of this 100,000 (IIRC), was a figure that the Road Haulage Association was bandying around before Covid hit.......

When More or Less contacted the Road Haulage Association to ask them how they arrived at that figure ........ and.......surprise, surprise they were unable to tell them....... Discuss!!!

ATB.

Andrew

[outrunner]

As an ex HGV and PSV driver I am of the firm opinion that the Road Haulage Association is a toothless dog which does little or nothing to improve drivers conditions.

Andy.

[Tim Marlow]

Quite a few of them have also retired Andrew, and there are a substantial number of HGV license holders that are no longer in the industry due to the appalling working conditions. In addition, the average age of HGV drivers in the UK is actually 55…if they're short staffed now, wait a few years! Half of the drivers will retire or fail medicals. Never mind, self driving trucks are just over the horizon….the companies will be able to double driving hours without worrying about pesky drivers…..

[Tim Marlow]

As an ex HGV and PSV driver I am of the firm opinion that the Road Haulage Association is a toothless dog which does little or nothing to improve drivers conditions.

Andy.

The road haulage association looks after the interests of the companies, not the employees….

[outrunner]

The road haulage association looks after the interests of the companies, not the employees….

Yes I know, but without the employees you have no companies.

Andy.

[Tim Marlow]

I know that, and you know that :tongue-out3:
It’s a bit strange that the companies are only just realising it though…..how did they think the goods were getting moved around…fairies?

[BattleshipBob]

Having worked and then trained apprentice HGV and PSV technicians, the whole country can see how vital trucks are so perhaps people will stop moaning when they have to pass one

[Tim Marlow]

Having worked and then trained apprentice HGV and PSV technicians, the whole country can see how vital trucks are so perhaps people will stop moaning when they have to pass one

Come on Bob, we both know the numpty that queued up for thirty minutes, while moaning all the time that they should get preference, to put ten quids worth of unleaded in his or her Stug sized SUVs petrol tank, will still moan like hell when a fuel truck holds them up for a couple of minutes……

[adt70hk]

Quite a few of them have also retired Andrew, and there are a substantial number of HGV license holders that are no longer in the industry due to the appalling working conditions. In addition, the average age of HGV drivers in the UK is actually 55…if they're short staffed now, wait a few years! Half of the drivers will retire or fail medicals. Never mind, self driving trucks are just over the horizon….the companies will be able to double driving hours without worrying about pesky drivers…..

They was it!!!!....I knew there was something else about the numbers reducing....

[Gern]

Thought my nearest garage was bad. The BBC found a garage selling unleaded at £2.08! Oh well. If people have any sense they'll go somewhere else after the problem's sorted and serve the greedy b****r right! Betcha a lot of them won't move though as habits are sometimes hard to break.