How not to prevent panic buying?

[d9f1c7]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17533151
I'm afraid our beloved leader has dropped another cajone here! I guess he meant to try and stop the morons panic buying but in effect I fear it encouraged just that. Do you think this will have the intended effect of "By all means fill up but donl't go mad"?

[ChuckFickens]

Replace G's with H's

(I'd assume a touch screen device combined with fat fingers was used while typing)

[Davethedog]

d9f1c7 If they won why do they need the Lib-Dems?

[rov1100]

A clever peace of tactics encouraging everyone to stock up. Come the actual strike it will have to be prolonged to have any effect. So many of the tanker drivers will return to work in shame.

[AB Editor]

There will be little sympathy for them.

[LazyGun]

Still no formal notification of a tanker drivers strike, as far as I am aware. The earliest an actual strike can take place would be after 7 days or so.

It does make me wonder whether the govt are just trying to drive up their own revenues they receive from fuel duty.................

[ummmm]

How would that work?

[Davethedog]

Because whatever they charge has 20% VAT on it so if something (a pasty) is a pound you get charged 20p and it goes to the govenment if you put iy up to £1.10 the gov get 22p ipso facto petrol

[ludwig]

// It does make me wonder whether the govt are just trying to drive up their own revenues they receive from fuel duty //

The only way that would work would be if people actually drove more.

[LazyGun]

Not expressing myself too clearly. Point I am making is that if you sell more fuel, the govt will benefit from more revenue due to the increased sales - and that increase in sales is pretty significant, according to the TV news.

In the absence of a formal notification of a strike by the tanker drivers, and on the understanding that the earliest a strike could then be called would be 7 days after that notification, the governments response, particularly that of Francis Maude yesterday, seems premature and inept to me.

[dave50]

Why is Joe Public so brain dead? No strike been announced, there are talks planned and then if all that fails then they have to give seven days notice. So why they panicking now, making things worse for everyone? They are like lemmings jumping off a cliff.

[birdie1971]

↑ I couldn't agree more. As LazyGun rightly points out, they haven't even given notice of the strike yet and so it will be at least a week tomorrow before any fuel shortages *may* occur. This is an example of selfish, irresponsible people being badly advised by stupid, equally irresponsible ministers.

http://www.thedailyma...hortage-201203295075/

[jno]

they'll be driving all over town looking for petrol, ludwig. Ministers are probably out putting up "Nearest Petrol This Way" signs pointing in the wrong direction.

[rov1100]

Just prior to this talk about having a strike there was great demand for prices to be lowered. Now this campaign has gone out of the window and the price of petrol has risen by more than 10p/litre in some areas because of demand. Some greedy buggers are making hell out of this.

[ummmm]

lol jno. Besides driving about looking for petrol, like Ludwig says, they will only make more money if people suddenly start to drive more. Which is unlikely.