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Chippenham gripped by fuel panic

4:06pm Saturday 14th June 2008

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Garages in Chippenham were out of fuel today after a spate of panic buying sparked by fuel tanker driver strikes.

The garages at Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco at Hungerdown Lane were all empty, as was the Esso garage at Cepen Park.

The Total garages were both still open for fuel this afternoon but had long queues.

"We've been really busy all day. We had a delivery last night so we are good for a while yet,'' said a worker in the Bath Road Total.

Has a garage near you run out of fuel?

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Your Say YourThe Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

mark_wilts, Melksham says...
7:29pm Sat 14 Jun 08

the strike is about SHELL.... the nearest garage is on the A46 north of Bath therefore everyone else should be fine, hence there is no reason for Chippenham to run out of fuel.

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DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire says...
8:19pm Sat 14 Jun 08

mark_wilts wrote:
the strike is about SHELL.... the nearest garage is on the A46 north of Bath therefore everyone else should be fine, hence there is no reason for Chippenham to run out of fuel.
Agree 100% but this is PANIC BUYING !!!
Don't you know there's a war on?
I've dug out my Suez Crisis ration book.
Can't stop, must rush out and fill my tank for the 3rd time today and syphon it into the water tank in the roof,the water but next to the greenhose and all the empty bottles I rescued out of the recycling skip on my last trip.
Just light this fag before I gooooooooooooo

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donteventhinkit, Corsham says...
12:54am Sun 15 Jun 08

Its official brits are bonkers oh and yes i am a brit.Theres a bank holiday and even though shops are open people go mad buying enough to last the whole week xmas has people buying enough to last most of january just to cover 1 day of closed shops and now theres a strike so they must get as much fuel into the tank as the car can possibly hold its only another 2 days and one of those is a sunday its hardly the end of the world instead of panicing how about just taking monday off you have the perfect excuse come tuesday its all over and guess what you survived

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corshamend, corsham says...
6:39am Sun 15 Jun 08

What people don't realise is if a Shell refinery is blockaded then non-Shell stations will be affected since all petrol refineries refine for other companies as well.
It's not just Shell-branded tankers that get loaded there.
This, coupled with panic buying is what causes the situation described in this article.

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Curious, Chippenham says...
6:48am Sun 15 Jun 08

mark_wilts wrote:
the strike is about SHELL.... the nearest garage is on the A46 north of Bath therefore everyone else should be fine, hence there is no reason for Chippenham to run out of fuel.
Yes, it is the Shell drivers who are striking, BUT other companies buy their oil from the same refinery and their drivers are refusing to cross the picket line, the likes of Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Tesco do not have their own oil refineries, they and us, the consumer, rely on these major refineries being open or at least accessible. During these periods fuel is limited and in a majority of cases what fuel does get out is diverted to satisfy the military and emergency services first. Plus we are not alone, this is now global, and reading the world news people who are being caught up in it all are actually dieing, tanker drivers being burnt to death, people being shot at petrol pumps and some even being driven off the road so their fuel can be robbed.line

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bsby666, devizes says...
5:22pm Sun 15 Jun 08

I went to Bath yesterday and there were ques into all the petrol stations, and on the way home there were signs outside all of them saying "sorry no fuel" and this continued into Box its ridiculous but its easy saying " oh dont panic buy" but when everyone else does you cant help thinking crikey what if theres none left? its easy done,I havent done it yet but its tempting!

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TC, Chippenham says...
5:35pm Sun 15 Jun 08

Unfortunately, the world is full of morons who cause a run on banks and panic buy food and petrol when they actually have no need to do either. There's no substitute for education.

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Grant, Marlborough says...
7:31pm Sun 15 Jun 08

George W is in the UK
Hide all the oil!

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mind your own, calne says...
9:52pm Sun 15 Jun 08

why not try something new and walk for a change to many people take there cars for granted anyway. i bet half those who filled up today could just leave the cars at home

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Jane, Chippenham says...
8:22am Mon 16 Jun 08

Unfortunately I work in Swindon so need to take the car to work.
I'd love to be able to take the train to work but there is no regular bus service from the station to the estate I work on so that makes it awkward.
Luckily I filled the car up last week so I don't need any fuel until Wednesday at least. I did notice though that the Esso in Hungerdown Lane has been out of fuel for a couple of days.
I expect we'll have the same scenario this weekend if they strike again this Friday!!!

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mind your own, calne says...
10:40am Mon 16 Jun 08

Jane wrote:
Unfortunately I work in Swindon so need to take the car to work. I'd love to be able to take the train to work but there is no regular bus service from the station to the estate I work on so that makes it awkward. Luckily I filled the car up last week so I don't need any fuel until Wednesday at least. I did notice though that the Esso in Hungerdown Lane has been out of fuel for a couple of days. I expect we'll have the same scenario this weekend if they strike again this Friday!!!
i did say half those not all and the murco garage in calne has plenty of fuel i just think people should mabye use the car less where ever possible

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mattbarker, Chippenham says...
11:47am Mon 16 Jun 08

I followed the advice not to panic buy and so carried on as normal. Went to do my regular start of week fill up this morning and most of the garages in chippenham have no petrol. Thankfully sainsburys chippenham had some expensive super unleaded left but were rationing it. I was able to put in 6 litres which should last a couple of days. Hopefully all will be back to normal soon!

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The Maxter, Chippenham says...
3:00pm Mon 16 Jun 08

matt I'm in the same position. Ddin't panic, no I'm out of fuel.
I'm journeying to work in Swindon by bike & train.

In fact if I were really smart, I'd ditch the car. I'd save thousands.
We will have 1.50 a litre by autumn. The government is creaming a windfall tax, and will not reduce fuel taxation to compensate for the raw price increase. In the meantime the oil producing nations (who have raised prices to offset the dollar devaluation - its not a supply issue) will now INCREASE production at the higher price. Is 2008 the beginnimng of the end for car ownership?

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moonraker1, chippenham says...
4:11pm Mon 16 Jun 08

If anyone is short of fuel then is £2.00 a litre to much to ask.


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clarence81, Chippenham says...
4:28pm Mon 16 Jun 08

Wouldnt suprise me if the panic buyers were the mums doing the school run! Our household didnt panic buy & had trouble getting to work, but I refused to join the que and waste a Sunday afternoon when the stike will be over soon.

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Grassy Knollington, Conspiracy Theorist (Chippers) says...
11:03am Tue 17 Jun 08

I laugh at the queue, as I zip past on my 100mpg scooter.

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worz, Wootton Bassett says...
11:10am Wed 18 Jun 08

Grassy Knollington wrote:
I laugh at the queue, as I zip past on my 100mpg scooter.
And me, though I don't quite get 100 mpg. It staggers me, people complaining about high petrol prices, and then driving cars. Hey, idiots, yes you, get a motor bike and save yourself a packet, lower tax, lower petrol consumption, no parking charges, since you can tuck a bike almost anywhere. The only reason that I can see for people not getting a bike, is that they know that they're such bad drivers, they think that they'd kill themselves.

Personally, I'd walk to work, it's only about four miles, except that it's along a main road and there's no pavement, and I don't trust the car drivers not to drive into me whilst they're messing with the radio/phoning/eating etc.

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The Maxter, Chippenham says...
11:44am Wed 18 Jun 08

Agreed re the scooter, and mine will be back on the road shortly 95MPG - Kiss my face!!

One downside though, is I only have a gallon and a half tank, and its a 60 mile round trip, even at 95 MPG it means I'll fill up every two days - so if there's no fuel at the pumps, I'm still stuffed.

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The Morrisons garage in Chippenham this weekend The Morrisons garage in Chippenham this weekend

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