Making the news today....

[Johnsond]

Petrol giant Essar on brink of collapse

APPLE.NEWS

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One of Britain’s biggest oil refineries is teetering on the brink of collapse, piling further...

I think it’s about time the post Thatcherism full on free market thing needs a tweak. Yeah I’m conservative in my outlook and believe you should if possible stand on your own two feet etc,  but have always been of the opinion that services and industries essential to a nations basic survival should be state owned. Andys analogy regards the sticking plaster being pulled off post brexit I think is not far off the mark. 

[eggsarascal]

24 minutes ago, Johnsond said:

Petrol giant Essar on brink of collapse

APPLE.NEWS

---

One of Britain’s biggest oil refineries is teetering on the brink of collapse, piling further...

I think it’s about time the post Thatcherism full on free market thing needs a tweak. Yeah I’m conservative in my outlook and believe you should if possible stand on your own two feet etc,  but have always been of the opinion that services and industries essential to a nations basic survival should be state owned. Andys analogy regards the sticking plaster being pulled off post brexit I think is not far off the mark. 

Needs a tweak? In my outlook I'm a socialist, it doesn't mean I think people should be able sponge off the rest of us. The Conservatives, in my lifetime have never wanted essential industries state owned. Water, gas, electricity, not to mention housing all flogged off to the highest bidder.

[Johnsond]

23 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Needs a tweak? In my outlook I'm a socialist, it doesn't mean I think people should be able sponge off the rest of us. The Conservatives, in my lifetime have never wanted essential industries state owned. Water, gas, electricity, not to mention housing all flogged off to the highest bidder.

Yep tweaking 👍

full on socialism I think we all know historically is doomed to fail. The Scandinavian capitalism with a conscience is probably the only one I can look to as a success but I don’t think necessarily all those living with it would totally agree. 

[Big J]

59 minutes ago, Johnsond said:

Yep tweaking 👍

full on socialism I think we all know historically is doomed to fail. The Scandinavian capitalism with a conscience is probably the only one I can look to as a success but I don’t think necessarily all those living with it would totally agree. 

 

I think with that idea of Scandinavian capitalism comes the notion that the acquisition of wealth beyond the point of ever needing any more is distasteful. The principle of Lagom is rather important - not too much, not too little, just right. The distance between society's poorest and richest is much smaller.

 

If those in this country with ample means refrained from exploiting every loophole and crack in our taxation system, we'd have a much happier (and better funded) society, as well as a lot of unemployed accountants. That's a win win in my books.

[eggsarascal]

Are we clapping for petrol station workers at 8PM on Wednesday?

[Mike Hill]

After a while in Scandinavia, once the shine wears off.. you will come to realise that the very rich are not much different to the rich in the UK or indeed anywhere else Jason.

 

They are simply more adapt at concealing their wealth and some might argue even more skillful in finding loopholes.

 

You will also find that the very Rich in Scandinavia pay personally very much less tax percentage wise than the lowest paid person in their employment.

 

Most of the very wealthy take their money from dividents, the consultancy fees they charge as paper employees of their own companies or assests are often paid in shares.The wealthy own alot of land, land owners have their own tax scales and handily can rent up to 50% of their propert tax free, to their other concerns of which they predictabley consult to...

[Rough Hewn]

Are we clapping for petrol station workers at 8PM on Wednesday?

🤣🤣🤣[emoji106]

[scbk]

10 hours ago, woody paul said:

All this about lorry driver shortage in fuel industry, it doesn't suddenly happen unless someone in admin makes a big cock up with holiday time off. 

I don't follow news closely, but I thought earlier in the week it had started with maybe 15 BP petrol stations in the south of England running out of fuel (delivery late)?

And everything else after that has been media & social media driven panic buying? The classic "I've heard they're running out of fuel so I better fill up!"

 

 

I've no idea about underground tank capacity at petrol stations, delivery times, how many deliveries a week etc, but surely the number of tanker drivers needed to service the normal demand of 15 petrol stations isn't many? Maybe 5 drivers??

 

So the whole nationwide "shortage" and now changes to immigration rules is due to a handful of missing drivers? 

[scbk]

8 hours ago, Johnsond said:

Been out today, Diesel and petrol for the mill. Filled up at Buckie no queue no hassle. Absolute media driven shit of the highest order swallowed sadly by way too many. 

 

Sadly panic buying has reached the Inverness area, saw a few pumps out of order, probably all the nutters doing the nc500! Both vans have over half a tank in which will last me a long time so I'm not buying diesel, only petrol for machinery

[daveatdave]

11 hours ago, 5thelement said:

My Dad, a tanker driver for over 30 years just sent me this from a Facebook group:-

 

So, you are running out of food on the shelves, fuel in the garages, you can’t buy things you need, because the shops can’t get their supplies.
Why is that?  
A shortage of goods?  No
A shortage of money?  No
A shortage of drivers to deliver the goods?  Well, sort of.
There isn’t actually a shortage of drivers, what we have, is a shortage of people who can drive, that are willing to drive any more.  You might wonder why that is.  I can’t answer for all drivers, but I can give you the reason I no longer drive.  Driving was something I always yearned to do as a young boy, and as soon as I could, I managed to get my driving licence, I even joined the army to get my HGV licence faster, I held my licence at the age of 17.  It was all I ever wanted to do, drive trucks, I had that vision of being a knight of the roads, bringing the goods to everyone, providing a service everyone needed.  What I didn’t take into account was the absolute abuse my profession would get over the years.
I have seen a massive decline in the respect this trade has, first, it was the erosion of truck parking and transport café’s, then it was the massive increase in restricting where I could stop, timed weight limits in just about every city and town, but not all the time, you can get there to do your delivery, but you can’t stay there, nobody wants an empty truck, nobody wants you there once they have what they did want.
Compare France to the UK.  I can park in nearly every town or village, they have marked truck parking bays, and somewhere nearby, will be a small routier, where I can get a meal and a shower, the locals respect me, and have no problems with me or my truck being there for the night.
Go out onto the motorway services, and I can park for no cost, go into the service area, and get a shower for a minimal cost, and have freshly cooked food, I even get to jump the queues, because others know that my time is limited, and respect I am there because it is my job.  Add to that, I even get a 20% discount of all I purchase.  Compare that to the UK £25-£40 just to park overnight, dirty showers, and expensive, dried (under heat lamps) food that is overpriced, and I have no choice but to park there, because you don’t want me in your towns and cities.
Ask yourself how you would feel, if doing your job actually cost you money at the end of the day, just so you could rest.
But that isn’t the half of it.  Not only have we been rejected from our towns and cities, but we have also suffered massive pay cuts, because of the influx of foreign drivers willing to work for a wage that is high where they come from, companies eagerly recruited from the eastern bloc, who can blame them, why pay good money when you can get cheap labour, and a never ending supply of it as well.  Never mind that their own countries would suffer from a shortage themselves, that was never our problem, they could always get people from further afield if they needed drivers.
We were once seen as knights of the road, now we are seen as the lepers of society.  Why would anyone want to go back to that?
If you are worried about not getting supplies on your supermarket shelves, ask your local council just how well they cater for trucks in your district.
I know Canterbury has the grand total of zero truck parking facilities, but does have a lot of restrictions, making it difficult for trucks to stop anywhere.
Do you want me to go back to driving trucks?  Give me a good reason to do so.  Give anyone a good reason to take it up as a profession.
Perhaps once you work out why you can’t, you will understand why your shelves are not as full as they could be.
I tried it for over 30 years, but will never go back, you just couldn't pay me enough.

Thank you to all those people who have shared this post.  I never expected such a massive response, but am glad that this message is getting out there.  I really hope that some people who are in a position to change just how bad it is for some drivers, can influence the powers that be to make changes for the better.  Perhaps some city and town councillors have seen this, and are willing to bring up these issues at their council meetings.  It surely cannot be too much to ask of a town/city to provide facilities for those who are doing so much to make sure their economies run and their shops and businesses are stocked with supplies.  I never wanted any luxuries, just somewhere safe to park, and some basic ablutions that are maintained to a reasonable standard.  I spent my nights away from my home and family for you, how much is it to ask that you at least give me access to some basic services.
There are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of licence holders just like me, who will no longer tolerate the conditions.  So the ball is firmly in the court of the councils to solve this problem.

WOW. 100,000 shares in a week.
I have been humbled by the number of people who have never been involved in transport expressing concern about just how badly truck drivers are treated.  I don't think the general public have really ever given it a thought, but I have been pleased to see so many express their displeasure about how we have to live while just providing a service for all of them.
I have heard from a number of news outlets since posting this, but not a single councillor or politician has contacted me.
Not that I think anything will change. Trucks always have been an inconvenience for local governments, and the cost of catering for them is left to someone else, anyone else,  yet there is no someone else out there.

 I avoided another aspect of the job, that makes it bad even for those who try to get home every night.
We have many transport hubs where goods are collected and then distributed onwards to supermarkets and large retailers.  Anyone who has delivered to any of these regional distribution centres will tell you the same story.  You arrive there at a fixed time slot (don't be late or you will face serious delays), and you will be told where to park and then where to take your paper work, after that, you will be instructed to back onto a bay at some point, to be unloaded. it might take just 20 minutes to unload a truck, but you can bet that the time spent in this RDC will be much longer, waiting for a bay to tip, waiting for them to actually unload you, and then what is usually the longest wait.  Waiting for your paper work, so you can carry on to the next job.  It is no wonder there is a shortage of trucks on the roads, 1/2 of them are stuck inside these soulless places waiting for a piece of paper.!

there used to be a wagon park at our local market town a short walk to the shops pubs etc for supplies food  then they upgraded the A1 to a motorway built a service station then closed the wagon park 

also know a few hgv  drivers that have stopped driving because of the pay and conditions one of them worked for ES as a day driver and was put on the Tesco delivery said the timed delivery was a nightmare he even got locked in one yard while the security firm that came to pick up the cash had finished they would not open the gates for a hour and his boss was ringing him to see what he was doing as there was a tracker on his unit then trying to send him to another depo when he only had a hours driving left just enough to get back to his home depo   he went into the office the next morning and asked for alternative for the supermarket runs they said there was none so he jacked there and then