Now, For The Latest Unnecessary Petrol Panic Buying

We had to fill our car today. (We were down to fumes.) The cost was bad enough (mostly courtesy of Her Majesty’s Government’s take). But even worse was that the petrol (gas) station about an hour ago was jammed.

After waiting over 10 minutes, the guy ahead of us finally filled up his not exactly little car . . . with all of £8 worth, or between 1-2 gallons. That’s called being an idiot topping up. And why? This blog has its suspicions:

Media, media, media. Always our friendly reporters scaring people. In this case, by harping all over distant problems in refineries, etc., that will be sorted out before any local tap actually runs dry and impacts the pumps if people just followed normal routines.

But all too typically overwrought reporting naturally causes fear. And (to adapt the words of a well-known philosopher) fear leads to worry, and worry leads to topping up, which leads your local station to run dry unnecessarily.

At one point in the above report, Reuters also tells us:

…The strike has caused fears of fuel shortages in Scotland and Northern England and triggered sharp rises in European diesel, gasoline and UK gas prices this week…

“The strike has?” Hmmm. And from where, pray tell, do people like Mr “Two Gallons” get his “fears”? Are they watching TV, listening to the radio and reading the net? Or do they all know someone at that Forties pipeline?

If petrol supplies at local stations are used up within hours, it won’t be because of a shortage of supplies. It will be because of our helpful suppliers of “information”.