Monday - April 02, 2012

Govt Caused Panic In Britain

Petrol retailers: Government intent on creating fuel crisis
The Government was accused of creating a fuel crisis due to its advice over how to prepare for a potential tanker driver strike.

Representatives of petrol station operators said that the Government action could see forecourts run dry within days.

Petrol sales soared by 45 per cent yesterday, after the Government suggested people should stock up on fuel as a “precaution” against a possible strike by tanker workers over the Easter weekend.

Francis Maude, the Cabinet Secretary, today told drivers they should make sure they have enough fuel in their vehicles and “maybe a little bit in their garage as well in a jerry can”.

However, both the AA and firefighters have now called on him to withdraw the advice, because of the risk of explosions in garages.

There were secenes of long queues at petrol pumps in Liverpool, Preston and Kent, while pumps ran dry in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and Llandudno Junction in North Wales.

And the news was immediately full of stories of sick people dying because the ambulances couldn’t fuel up, and other stories of foolish people getting horribly burned by trying to decant gas from one container to another in their kitchens, by candlelight, while smoking. This lead to ‘Elf & Safety and their fellow do-gooders on the fire squad warning people not to store gas in their houses, on top of their furnaces, inside their fireplaces and so forth ... because your typical Englishman is just too stupid to understand that gasoline burns really well. And the press is chock full of pictures of people topping off, and filling up their plastic jerry cans (in the UK gas jerries are green) along with jam jars, oil bottles, and every other kind of improper container. Plus the requisite photos of endless lines at the pumps, and the “no petrol” signs up at the forecourts (gas stations are called forecourts over there). And there is no strike, and there is no actual shortage of fuel.

The Government’s emergency plans to deal with a national petrol shortage are not “fit for purpose” because forecourt staff have not been trained and have no idea how the plans should work, petrol retailers have warned ministers.

The ‘National Emergency Plan - Fuel’ will be enacted by the Government if there is an official petrol shortage. It will see up to 700 of the UK’s 8,500 forecourts designated as ‘official’ stations with instructions to prioritise sales to the emergency services.

However RMI Petrol, the trade body that represents independent petrol forecourts, has today written to Energy Minister Ed Davey warning him that the Plan is inadequte and full of “flaws”.

Petrol retailers argue that the Plan is so secretive that they will not know if they are a designated station until an emergency is actually called. They say that staff have not been trained, the plan has not been rehearsed, and they have not been told who to prioritise petrol to.

Retailers also argue that having only having two or three ‘official’ outlets in each city will lead to far longer queues at forecourts as motorists scramble for the available petrol. The retailers argue that any available fuel should be shared equally between all stations.

Earlier stories told of the Army being called up to drive the tanker trucks - “petrol lorries”. The problem is, that the government came up with this whiz-bang plan, but didn’t bother to tell anyone about it. So now we have the guys at the pumps - who I am sure are catching hell from the motorists - crying that they weren’t properly trained or let in on the plan. “Nobody told me nuttin” as some of might say over here. I wonder if the thousand or so soldiers on the call-up list knew they were on it, or if they even know how to drive one of those rigs or pump the fuel?

I’ve been following this situation for a couple of days now. I think the correct term is “a right proper cock up”. I have not seen anything that says that it is all just a test run of their emergency preparedness plan, but it’s obvious that the government is getting a huge windfall in taxes. Taxes probably account for 70% or more of the fuel prices in the UK. So, was this all just a mistake? “Loose lips sink ships”? Or was it a planned move to a) outrage the public fully against the driver’s union a few weeks ahead of any rumored strike; and/or b) a quick way to bring in mountains of cash to refill the nearly empty tax coffers?

It’s a fair question. I have also not heard anything about the minister who made the original announcement getting the sack. I would think “causing needless public panic” would be a firing offense even for their government, wouldn’t you?

The other rumor is that next week the fire brigades will go around to everyone’s sheds and garages and start handing out fines for improperly stored petrol and fuel hoarding. Sweet.

So let’s all have a chuckle at the Daily Stupid in the UK. But stop and think for a minute. Their leader and our leader seem awfully chummy, and we’ve seen so many times before that what happens over there happens over here, and vice versa. Their unhinged left isn’t much different than ours. And the petrol crisis, deliberately or accidentally manufactured, is still a crisis. A bit of a National Emergency. The kind which gives governments all sorts of “temporary” yet extraordinary powers if they feel like it. And last week’s news here was that Teh Won just did another one of his end-run Executive Orders that give him and the rest of the government even more emergency powers. Makes me wonder if this whole thing is a trans-Atlantic Beta Test.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/02/2012 at 12:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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