Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:15 am  

McLaren_Field wrote:

Those people are not panic buying.

They are following Government Minister guidelines.

Quite, they were stupid in their recommendations. However, the few people amongst the masses that can actually read have noticed that the strike has to have 7 days notice and they aren't even discussing the issue further until Monday. So we're 11 days away from a possible strike.

The winners in this? HMRC and the petrol companies. Both laughing heartily at the foolish behaviour.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:47 am  

The easiest way for the fuel delivery companies to improve their efficiency is to have a smaller delivery window and reduce the time allowed for the journey.

I wonder how many people know that it only takes the small difference of 3 mph in the speed of a laden fuel tanker, which is critical in it negotiating a roundabout safely, or rolling over on top of you?

A fact, I suspect many motorists are blissfully unaware of.....

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:09 am  

The oil companies used to control fuel supplies from well to tank. Then someone looked at the margins of each of the separate operations and decided that they were too low in refining and distribution. These elements of the operation were hived off to contractors and now we see the results.

Lowering of safety standards led directly to the Buncefield refinery disaster.

The low margins in refining led to Petroplus going bankrupt and the potential loss of the Coryton refinery from the UK capacity

The distribution element is under similar pressure to squeeze ever more from less and could lead to similar results, albeit on a smaller scale.

And all the right-wing can do is condemn the unions.

QT last night was farcical, Sarah Tether could have done worse than don a Girl Guides outfit, so clueless was she about what was happening. Coupled to Anna Soubry's fawning defence of all things Cameron and Douglas Alexander's failure to press home any meaningful points, I was glad that Alexei Sayle and Simon Jenkins were on the panel, they were the only ones speaking any sense.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:17 am  

She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion

She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:27 am  

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion I'm sure even the most staunch anti-Conservative like yourself can see that she is to blame for this. Why on earth was she 'decanting' it in the kitchen with the hob on? What an absolute fool. How had her daughter ran out of fuel despite the pumps not being dry and despite there not being a petrol crisis yet is another good question. But still, as with so many in the compensation culture we live in, she'll no doubt try to blame her stupidity on Maude and she'll no doubt be able to wrap her 40% burns in cash from her payout.

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion I'm sure even the most staunch anti-Conservative like yourself can see that she is to blame for this. Why on earth was she 'decanting' it in the kitchen with the hob on? What an absolute fool. How had her daughter ran out of fuel despite the pumps not being dry and despite there not being a petrol crisis yet is another good question. But still, as with so many in the compensation culture we live in, she'll no doubt try to blame her stupidity on Maude and she'll no doubt be able to wrap her 40% burns in cash from her payout.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:29 am  

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion Sounds like a stupid thing to do but how many people know that its not the liquid that burns but the fumes, not many I'd suggest. When I worked in the electrical contracting industry, even back in the olden days, installations within the area covered by the petrol station canopy was highly specialised work and your normal bog-standard electrical contractor (like the company I worked for) was only allowed to take the power supply up to the switchgear outside of the canopy area. Its probably the most volatile substance that "normal" people will ever handle and yet we do it so blithely without questioning what could go wrong.

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion Sounds like a stupid thing to do but how many people know that its not the liquid that burns but the fumes, not many I'd suggest. When I worked in the electrical contracting industry, even back in the olden days, installations within the area covered by the petrol station canopy was highly specialised work and your normal bog-standard electrical contractor (like the company I worked for) was only allowed to take the power supply up to the switchgear outside of the canopy area. Its probably the most volatile substance that "normal" people will ever handle and yet we do it so blithely without questioning what could go wrong.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:02 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Landlords can only up the rent if someone is prepared to pay it? that is the economic reality?

Cobblers. There is a shortage of affordable housing. Supply and demand is basic economics. And those communist paradises of France and Germany manage to have regulation of private landlords, along with pretty much every other European nation. God, how they' all suffering as a result.

Sal Paradise wrote:

Perhaps the reality is we have had it too good for too long and things are just returning to the status quo?

Ah yes. The rich just get richer and the poor get poorer. Have you practised your own grovelling yet or are you hoping it won't affect you much, so you can get away with talking about how others should suffer - just as long as it isn't you?

So effectively you think it's okay for, say, situations of people unable to afford housing - three families living in a the-bed house, for instance? Anything more - 'oh, we had it too good'. Although I'll bet you don't speak from anything like such a position but are only happy for it to happen to others.

Sal Paradise wrote:

There are host of ways our "mixed economy" can grow - its a myth that we don't manufacture things in this country - you look in any sizeable town/city and you find a host of small companies making things.

Nobody has claimed that we make nothing.

The reality, however, is that approximately 75% of our economy is based on the service sector. Shopping is now so important that quarterly retail figures are headline news.

Napoleon must be spinning in his grave with sheer laughter.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:26 am  

We have to be careful when we compare how many people are employed in manufacturing now against years gone by.
For example, back then, if you worked in the canteen or security or payroll etc in an engineering works, you were counted as being in manufacturing.
That and the subsequent outsourcing of non-core skills skews the comparison.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:08 am  

And as if by magic - A tanker driver's view Some bullet points: * Cut throat operators driving down pay - and cutting corners on training * Agency workers being brought in with only two days' training * One contract for a major retailer requiring only one day's training before a tanker can be taken out on the road * Mistakes being made by under-trained drivers resulting in contaminated fuel in forecourts * Vehicles repaired so often drivers liken them to `Meccano' sets * Unmanned forecourts where drivers are told to unload dangerous fuel alone * Drivers being told to risk their own safety by approaching the public if they present a danger to the fuel, with reports of assaults on drivers as a result * Greater numbers of low-cost operators entering the market, pushing standards down still further and the industry further towards ‘chaos’ * Drivers on six month short-term contracts even though the fuel contract may be for three to five years.

And as if by magic - A tanker driver's view Some bullet points: * Cut throat operators driving down pay - and cutting corners on training * Agency workers being brought in with only two days' training * One contract for a major retailer requiring only one day's training before a tanker can be taken out on the road * Mistakes being made by under-trained drivers resulting in contaminated fuel in forecourts * Vehicles repaired so often drivers liken them to `Meccano' sets * Unmanned forecourts where drivers are told to unload dangerous fuel alone * Drivers being told to risk their own safety by approaching the public if they present a danger to the fuel, with reports of assaults on drivers as a result * Greater numbers of low-cost operators entering the market, pushing standards down still further and the industry further towards ‘chaos’ * Drivers on six month short-term contracts even though the fuel contract may be for three to five years.

Re: The Great Fuel Crisis of 2012 : Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:34 am  

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion I don't recall him suggesting you pop the cooker on then use a jug next to the cooker to decant petrol. "The fuel she was decanting ignited as she was using the cooker at the time, he said. She was attempting to transfer the petrol from one container to another using a jug." http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/woman-burned-while-decanting-petrol-1

cod'ead wrote: She was only following Francis Maude's suggestion I don't recall him suggesting you pop the cooker on then use a jug next to the cooker to decant petrol. "The fuel she was decanting ignited as she was using the cooker at the time, he said. She was attempting to transfer the petrol from one container to another using a jug." http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/woman-burned-while-decanting-petrol-1