By Mathew Carr — Sept. 26-27, 2021 — It was chaos at the local Texaco petrol station as we walked past Sunday morning.
I understand this station was closed Saturday amid panic buying across the U.K. and a shortage of lorry drivers — caused by the pandemic and an aging population of transport workers.
The fact that the station was open Sunday is a good sign that some fuel supplies are getting through.
Governments and companies around the world need to carefully protect, nurture and manage the existing dirty energy system as it declines, and as they replace it with a cleaner system over the next 30 years.
Otherwise, voters, customers and residents will become even more angry.
This shot shows the traffic queue stretching underneath a rail bridge where those waiting for fuel effectively blocked traffic on a busy road.
The bus could not get through— delaying public transport users too and making them mad.
Queues extended along the other side of the station, as well, causing tension where the two lines of motorists met. Local social media included complaints about the deadly fumes from idling, noise pollution from tooting and arguments — all day long and during the night, though the queuing had become more organized by late Sunday..
Texaco, the station manager and public authorities should have thought ahead and managed this situation better, deployed traffic control. The national problem was all over the front pages of newspapers for days.
The media needs to ensure it reports responsibly so a bad situation isn’t made worse because of the incitement to panic.
Newspaper reports this morning say the army’s being sent in to help provide drivers, for instance.
This shortage is like lobbing hand grenades into the British way of life (where there is little to complain about versus most of the world, it has to be said).
NOTE
Whilst Valero has a licence to use the Texaco brand in the UK, it does not own or operate any of the Texaco branded service stations. They are all owned and operated by independent retailers to whom Valero supply Texaco fuel.