The Fuel Shortage

I have already written a blog before about how in times of crisis the selfishness of the British public often reveals itself and the current fuel shortage has brought this to light once more. I don’t currently own a car at the moment, but I do know how to drive and I – like most people – have been watching the news. I am constantly baffled by how people can have such a lack of care for the rest of the country.

Like most things that have been going wrong in this country it has been a result of Brexit and this fuel shortage is essentially also a part of our new Brexit Britain. Not that the shortage will be a constant aspect of British life but it is currently causing a significant number of problems, especially to everyday working lives. The country has already been affected by a shortage of HGV drivers – which was originally seen in the lack of stock on the shelves in supermarkets. However, this shortage has now begun to affect the fuel for our petrol stations as there is a lack of drivers able to deliver supplies to the pumps.

Of course it might not have been too much of a problem if people had carried on getting fuel as they normally do; they just may not have been able to fill up as often as they might have wanted to. However, because of people going into a mass panic they have been getting fuel when they don’t really need to and some people even going out of their way to fill cans up as well. In times like this – when something is in low supply, like the toilet papers of lockdown – people either think about the rest of the population and show their sensibility and awareness or they demonstrate their complete ignorance and selfish attitudes. The long queues are an obvious result of people filling up more than they need to; there would only be such large queues in normal circumstances if there was only a limited number of pumps available.

This might all seem fairly obvious. People have heard about a shortage and are concerned about getting to work. However, surely the consideration would be towards those who need petrol the most. I have seen numerous people on my social media mentioning how ambulance drivers need to fill up more often than the everyday worker and so there should be some care towards them. If you have the ability to travel to work via public transport in the most serious of cases then you should remember that you have that as option. Therefore, when it comes to petrol, only get what you need. Take a moment to consider those who don’t have this as an option and have to travel awkwardly for work. There perhaps wouldn’t have been such an uproar during this so-called shortage if people hadn’t allowed themselves to panic and stock up unnecessarily.

I cannot seem to stress enough how important it is during times like this for people to not just think about themselves. I do have some understanding as to why people would think that they should prioritise themselves and their families [particularly during the height of covid] but it is selfish and it doesn’t work. If everyone acted in a calm and sensible manner – and attempted to not stir up the crowd in the process – then the situation would be a lot less serious. If everyone took what they needed with a small sacrifice then it is much more fair and democratic than people having significantly more than others.