For the past week, the United Kingdom has been caught up in a frenzy of gasoline buying as rumors, press and government advice swirled around petrol-station forecourts and sent a legion of thirsty cars out onto the streets wandering aimlessly looking for top-ups.
The government blamed panic buyers, which seems to be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, and it also blamed leaked information from a meeting of the Road Haulage Association, as if such information should be a classified secret.
The distributors blamed a lack of government awareness of the fact that it said months ago there is and would be a shortage of up to 100,000 HGV — heavy goods vehicle — drivers. The fuel is ready to be delivered, but there is no one to deliver it.
The government also blamed COVID-19 for many drivers moving back to their homes, generally on the European mainland.
Just as with roles in the hotel industry, apparently few Brits want to drive trucks.
At no point has Brexit been blamed, so the problem obviously does not lie there. The news media probably shares at least some of the blame.
The fuel crisis is also likely to hurt hoteliers, in that it will result in difficulties delivering and receiving some goods.
I have seen no evidence that a lack of fuel will dent the recent staycation trend, mainly because the U.K. is back to school, and the weather has a tinge of autumn to it, but I think it is fair to suggest that a vacation 100 or 200 miles away would be spoiled if it was impossible to get home afterwards.
Chances are the country will get back to rights soon enough, perhaps even before you read this, but I do wonder if such incidents hint at the fragility of civil society.
I drove to the countryside on the first Saturday of the turmoil for the innocent recreation of blackberry picking, but when I saw a petrol station to my right that was open I quickly turned around and pulled in behind a smallish queue that was moving. I had only a quarter of a tank left, but I still winced at thinking I was part of the hungry horde.
I did not, however, buy 200 toilet rolls back in March 2020, and I did see a few on the shelves that I could have purchased. I had sufficient supply at home, I reckoned, and went on my merry way.
I also did not want to be seen walking down the road with toilet rolls under my arms, looking every bit as much as a looter — a loo-roll looter, no less.
Toilet rolls predominate in histories of panic buying. They probably make for fantastic newspaper headlines and photos.
Is it the fear of missing out? Online travel agencies have long used a sense of finite, rationed product as a spur to purchase, and really there is no difference between this and a loo roll, I would hasten to say.
When lockdown ended here, the rush for staycations was furious, and older people who got both their vaccinations were first out of the starting blocks.
If you don’t get it now, you will not get it.
The hotel industry is famously polite for not getting involved in any actions so untoward and shallow, but hoteliers might not be feeling so nice when supplies to their hotels reach low, critical amounts.
Hoteliers and hotel chains always have put emphasis and time into their procurement and supply-chain agreements, but the goods they order have to be able to get to the hotel in some fashion.
A poll of U.K. industry leaders last week from analytics and business-solutions firm CGA & Fourth revealed that 99% of those surveyed said they are currently experiencing supply-chain issues. A total of 88% reported reduced product lines and more than 80% have had orders delayed or not delivered at all.
Recent shortages due to haulage and supply-chain issues include chicken, with High Street restaurant chain Nando’s having to close restaurants for a short while.
The problem will come to a head next year, I think, when the U.K. starts checking goods from the European Union. That was supposed to have started that last year but the legislation was pushed back due to the problems outlined above, and others.
The U.K. government has mulled providing 5,000 three-month visas — Brexiteers will love that! — to European truck drivers, who I would guess have probably felt messed around enough already by my country.
Is it arrogant just to announce these visas and expect grateful mainland Europeans to rush back? If the pay is good enough, yes, I guess?
And now there is more “fowl” work at play, with the turkey industry quick off the mark to announce Brits’ Christmas-dinner plates might be bird-less due to supply issues. That is a shortage we can all expect soon.
I’ll just have chicken then, assuming that shortage has been rectified, if the truck bringing it to me has sufficient fuel to do so.
Panic buying is not a nice thing to see, as it exposes the weakness and pettiness in all of us, but there seem to have been a great many political miscalculations, arrogance and popularism here, too, which has been equally disconcerting to view.
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