The Panic Buying Epidemic: How The UK Scored An Own Goal And F**ked Itself… Again

It’s fair to say the last 5 years have been… interesting. Trump, Chinese trade wars, Capitol riots, North Korea’s insistence on making the world feel uneasy, climate change, Trump’s younger misfit Boris Johnson becoming prime minister in the UK, Brexit and the COVID-19 global pandemic that has seen turmoil on an unprecedented scale not seen in decades.

But I don’t know what it is about the UK. I’ve never known a country so hell bent on f**king itself in the a**e because, well, “British”.

Human psychology is fascinating, if not rather scary.

The last panic buying “epidemic” I witnessed was at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, but I have to admit I can’t put the blame on the UK for that, as it most definitely originated from elsewhere. But in our own British way, we went and took it to a whole new level anyway. Toilet rolls, flour, pasta, Easter eggs…

Toilet rolls I can sort of understand in the sense that perhaps the general public had started regularly s**tting themselves about contracting this potentially deadly disease that nobody really knew anything about at the time. Flour puzzled me though, why did it take a pandemic for the nation to suddenly become lovers of making their own bread? And have they got bored of it now they’re allowed out to play?!

I can’t be certain what kicked all of that off, though I did a lot of despairing and head shaking during that time.

Fast forward 18 months and we’re in the latest panic buying craze. Only this time, it definitely originated in the UK. This time, it definitely follows no logic. And this time, I’ve definitely seen how dumb a lot of people in this country actually are.

On the 23rd September 2021 a communication from BP to the UK Government cabinet was leaked — that communication was advising of a closure of a small handful of filling stations they run due to the ongoing HGV driver shortage causing issues with deliveries of all types of fuel grades. On its own this should have done very little, barely anyone would have heard about it.

Then the media woke up. Within 2 hours, Twitter had various panic buying hashtags trending, and seemingly petrol stations had queues longer than the majority of rides at the Alton Towers theme park.

Well done media. You just caused public hysteria.

But if you sit down and think about this, the media poured the fuel on the fire (pardon the intentional pun.) The British public have been fanning the flames for four days now, and it’s reported that as many as two thirds of fuel stations in the UK are now either out of fuel, or pretty much out of fuel. I spent two hours today between five fuel stations in Cambridgeshire trying to get diesel, because I had two days of fuel remaining and I couldn’t risk leaving it any longer… it’s absolutely ridiculous.

I’ve heard of many people putting just £9 of fuel in their car to “top it back up”, filling multiple fuel cans as well as their car, but it’s completely unnecessary. It’s been affecting people who really need fuel in their cars and vans being able to work, which has a knock on effect for everybody. I’ve even seen someone pulled over at the side of the road putting fuel in their car from a jerry can. It could be genuine, but I don’t believe in coincidences and in 19 years of driving I have never genuinely seen someone filling their car at the roadside.

Not to mention that it is illegal to store more than 30 litres of petrol or diesel at your home, as well as it being illegal to store fuel in containers not approved for this purpose.

There are several “conspiracy theories” (us Brits love a good conspiracy theory, apparently!) — my favourites have got to be that the fuel companies have manufactured this “crisis” to sell off expiring fuel not sold due to the pandemic and multiple lockdowns, and that the Government have manufactured the “crisis” to push the sale of electric vehicles.

Whether you choose to believe a conspiracy theory is of course entirely up to you, but the supply chain of road fuel was perfectly manageable a week ago. When people change buying habits en masse as they have in the last few days, disruption occurs.

The reality is, the British people scored an own goal. The British people f**ked themselves. Again.

For everyone’s sake, can we just go back to buying the fuel we need, when we need it… just like we did a week ago? Perhaps sink your time into “Conspiracy Theories: A Compendium of History’s Greatest Mysteries and More Recent Cover-Ups” instead.

Originally published at https://thewebdevguy.co.uk on September 27, 2021.