Panic buying
 

What a week...

Stamps are going up from 46 p to 60p on Sunday, so people have been stocking up.

VAT on take away food is to be imposed -so extra 20pct on a pasty. There has been a huge run on Greggs!

Now some idiot minister has told people to fill jerry cans and store them in their garage to combat the proposed tanker driver strike over easter.

What next? Fill your house with snow boots as they will be unavailable over (UK) summer?

Re: Panic buying
 

And make their household insurance invalid:confused: It's bl00dy ridiculous, typical scaremongering, not helped by the papers, as usual, with their headlines. What the heck is the point of filling up this week, when the propsed strike is next week? Surely most of the people filling up will still need fuel in 7 days time?:confused: And the Army are in training to supply the fuel so why is it an issue?

Might give me an excuse to not visit the folks on sunday though:sneaky:

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I can't repeat what we called Francis Maude last night on here - but it wasn't fluffy cute little bunny!

We're off on holiday for a week from Tuesday and today we got a call to say the wood burners out of action in the cottage we're renting!
Wondering if for the first time in my life I may need holiday insurance for a break in the UK ?

I think perhaps Francis Maude should be packed off to work in Macdonalds what a twit.
For starters there's a legal limit for petrol that can be kept in 'jerry cans' which are two 5 litre containers and we saw someone filling up a jerry can earlier that contained more than that! Do I need to mention the fire hazard? I shouldn't have to. He's caused total chaos!

An nothing would surprise me nowadays so this scare mongering could all be a way to line the governments pockets - unleaded sales up 81% and where does most of the money go that we pay on fuel?

It's just another headache I could have done without - inconsiderate so and so lol

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So glad I'm not in the UK right now. Sounds as though things are getting pretty tough.
People always panic buy, and often cause the shortages they are trying to avoid by doing so, whereas if they only bought their normal rations there might not have been a shortage.

Mind you, I always make sure I have a pack of 18 loo rolls in my cupboard.

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Ive been through fuel strikes in both countries and come out unscathed :) Its not the end of the world.

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But you would think the apocalypse was coming by the way the press describe it.

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Exactly, its the press, its what they do.

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Then you have the idiots that are watching the news and reading the papers and causing accidents trying to get to the pumps.

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:eek: i thought every one is in celebratory olympic jubilee mood? might as well nationalise BP.

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Ahhhh..takes you back to those heady days of 2000! I think bad memories run deep which is why everyone is panicking.

However, being without petrol isn't easy, during that strike I had to pick up and drop off one of my staff that week because he had run out and public transport wasn't very easy from where he lived, luckily I had filled up before the panic set in so my tank lasted me the week. However, I did need some for the following week otherwise I couldn't have got to work and it took hubs 2 hours to queue up for some! Then it all got called off .....he wasn't happy!

I think we just can't cope these days without stuff, Telstra's internet went down for an hour or two a month or so ago, OMG....how can you cope without the internet? Actually I might get more work done :lol:

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That is very true, as soon as we lose something 'essential' we run around wondering what we are going to do. We have become so reliant on things that years ago were luxuries, now we take them for granted and seemingly cant exist without them.

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Trouble in Pommytopia - who'd have thunk it

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Those headlines read like my last full winter in the UK. The Winter of Discontent 78/79.

People my age should cope easily, lots of this stuff in the 70's The 3 day week was a doozy.

It aint bad till Leceister Square looks like this IMO.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...n_1717416c.jpg

The surreal letters my then future wife wrote back to Aus would make for interesting reading today.

Re: Panic buying
 

Stamps go up in price from 30th April, not this coming Sunday.

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My brother said the funniest thing was seeing Ed Miliband doing his interview about the petrol debacle from right outside a Greggs!!!!

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soon the North Sea oil fields will run dry.

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#firstworldproblems huh. Don't we have it tough...

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The sky is falling.....the sky is falling....

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Yes heaven will crash on earth. You are all doomed.

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Oh and you're not?:confused:

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Thank you private Fraser.

Whatever happened to the British stiff upper lip????

Just get on with things and make do- no need to panic folks....

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Keep Calm And Carry On...

.

Re: Panic buying
 

First I heard of all this, then again I don't buy newspapers or watch the news.:lol:

I live in my own lovely little bubble of happiness where the weather is like a heatwave (for now) and the blossoms are bursting out everywhere. :thumbsup:

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No I'm not because I've been a nice boi. ;)

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I feel so stupid,i queued for 3 hours to fill up my jerry cans,in the sweltering heat,managed to carry them the 10 miles home,then remembered,i don't have a car:o

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Hahahahahahahahaha if only

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-17560534:blink:

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An early contender for this years Darwin Awards :getcoat:

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surely even without the government to guide you, logic tells you that
naked flames+ petrol = kaboom!


And the reason Milliband was outside Greggs? Pastrygate!

Stealing from pensioners ('the granny tax') really is last week's news.

Re: Panic buying
 

ha :rofl: we really must stop watching the news & reading the papers- we're all so gullible...you'll be telling me not to have that extra drink next in case I trip up the stairs :beer:

Re: Panic buying
 

That Granny tax really upset my mother... She never talks about politics or any contentious issues. It's all she would talk about on my last phone call. Takes a lot to upset her.

I was very surprised at her manner... so WTF is going on over there ?

Re: Panic buying
 

pasties now subject to 20% VAT. it's a weight loss initiative.

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well my official retirement age has risen to 66.... there is talk of a further rise to 68 or even 70... those of us who have been responsible & hard working all our lives feel that we have become an easy target to recoup revenue from- existing pensioners are having their tax allowance rates frozen- & of course if you emigrate your pension is frozen- interest on savings is almost nil..

trouble is although some people are ok with extending their working lives, not everyone is in the greatest of health - or even has the energy level left after raising families & working at the same time.. it's really come as a hammer blow to a lot of people that that end date is getting further & further away..nobody knows any more in fact what that retirement date will be for sure..its a very disconcerting feeling.

there are still many good things about the UK but we're definitely feeling the rug pulled from u nder our feet.. no wonder we panic if there's the slightest hint of a fuel shortage- the thought of being housebound as well might just be the last straw!!! :ohmy:

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Government creating nationwide panic to line their pockets further from I can fathom or from what I want to fathom from it all.

Odd that people read the papers and heard the news a couple of days ago and today there is the calming news of talks to get past the threats of strikes yet people are still rushing to the pumps trying to cause an accident in the process.
I do find people odd to work out sometimes - lets say take for example the woman de-cantering one petrol can to fill another in her kitchen with the cooker on - she wasn't young or particularly old - in her 40's where I would say should technically have common sense enough to know how stupid what she was doing was!
40% burns :unsure:

There won't be a strike before Easter so I don't know people are still panicking. It's like the crazies without anyone toting a gun :$

Re: Panic buying
 

You must be the same age as me... Same thing has happened here. I've just been caught by the retirement age change, although I dont cop it as badly as my wife who is two years younger than me but now retires 3 years later. I now reach the government pension age at 66 and she at 67. No talk of change beyond the government pension benefits. So it may come down to accessing more of your super before the government pension becomes available.

Got to admit, I dont know whether I have to work for another 7 or 10 years yet.

I may just retire at the same age as the Wife..... Bloody hell thats 12 years from her government pension away ! Hmmm not a good idea.

Luckily in Aus you can access your Super tax free once you hit 60... So we are both in that age group within 6 years.

So a similar experience to your UK one.

Re: Panic buying
 

The retirement age is rising in many countries including Australia because Governments realise it will be impossible to pay the necessary pensions. h

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I know that and it's obvious. What isn't quite so obvious is once governments upset the un-upsettable like my Mother they are going to cop a massive backlash. I would say there are literally millions sething over this Tax.... I've got visions of oldies on their zimmers now taking to the streets.

Re: Panic buying
 

It is probably the last group that any Government wants to upset but i get the feeling we will be seeing pensioners being hit more and more in years to come.

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They are a bit thick in Acomb