Toilet Rolls - Now Petrol/diesel!

[Mouldy]

7 minutes ago, andyg said:

Nope, you are wrong there I'm afraid, they do indeed. If there cpc entitlement ( card ) has expired they do need to do that all over again. So the minister was correct. 

So you undertake 35 hours of CPC training and get your medical.

https://app.croneri.co.uk/questions-and-answers/returning-drivers-and-category-c-entitlement

[andyg]

I joined my current employer in June 2006 back then the UK had a shortage of approx 50k drivers, so the 100k shortage is slightly misleading. Even with the influx of drivers from Eastern European countries etc, there has always been a healthy number of driving vacancies. Drivers could pretty much pick and choose. We must remember the vast majority of those that have left done so out of choice and were not forced out by brexit ( brexit has had an impact I have no doubt) then add in the changes HMRC made to temporary driver employment status the pandemic and better terms and conditions in there own countries. And here we are,there is no quick fix have no doubt about that. 

[Bikertov]

Interesting thought on the  HMRC aspect.

I read somewhere that a lot of HGV drivers have been caught by IR35.

I have worked via the contracting route in IT, that has been decimated by IR35. Typical government, civil servants and the HMRC not understanding that people want to work in different ways, and not just be a PAYE employee  

Had I been caught by IR35 before I moved on from contracting, I would not have created and now be running a successful business employing over 50 staff  

[floydraser]

4 hours ago, Oddfellow said:

This is going around Social; Media. It's worth reading. 

 

Add to that: My Asda start time was around 12.30 lunchtime for 17 years. Then I was told I would be given statutory notice that it was changing to 01.00. Voluntary redundancy came along just in time.

Satellite tracking came in. They were talking about nominating places where you could take a break, you wouldn't be able to choose. 

So with a Vemis message/driver log system and satellite tracking fitted, my mobile phone rang while I was on the road, a minute from a store. I ignored it until I had stopped then found it was a supervisor with some minor message. Had I answered it while moving it would have been instant dismissal and loss of redundancy payment. His obvious options were to use the Vemis or ring the store. I'll never forget his name.

[floydraser]

That was a close one.

We drove to Southbourne with the caravan on Wednesday. Thursday we drove along the south coast to Kent to look at a campavan, returning via the M25. Clacket Lane had diesel at £1.53 but I drove past. The BBC where on about the driver non shortage and I commented that they had failed to cause panic buying with the CO2 thing so now were trying it on with petrol. I was confident however, that we wouldn't fall for it, having learned from the bog roll thing earlier. How wrong was I???

I knew I would just have enough diesel to get back to the caravan which we did with the red warning light aglow. I was too "worn out" after driving nearly all day so left it, noting that I would need to fill up next time out. Friday we caught the train to Portsmouth Harbour and had a lovely day, alfresco lunch at Zizzis and everything. Got back to the van and chilled out, checked the latest threads on this forum and hang on, what's this??? No chuffing fuel!

I jumped in the car and nipped to the nearest petrol station - closed - the other way to the next one - stopped to let an NHS ambulance in front but both of us came away disappointed. Back to the van. Saturday (yesterday then) we were going to the Weald and Downland museum but wouldn't have enough fuel, so we chilled and had a good walk around the coast path.

So to this morning: I seriously had no idea how far I could get on the diesel left in the car. If I ran out, could I just put more in or would it need bleeding? The nearest station was Esso but wasn't answering the phone. The next nearest was Jet but they didn't give their opening hours!

Thanks to Confused.com who sent an email with a link to tell me where the cheapest fuel was available to me: Asda Waterlooville. Asda's auto answering machine declared that due to unprecedented demand, they were unable to take my call. Really? I wonder why? Take a wild guess and while you're recording a message telling me to go away, you could have told me if fuel was available in exactly the same amount of time, at the same cost! Too easy and too sensible I guess.

In the end I took a gamble and drove to the nearest Esso at 0730 and although the queue seemed quite long (about 15 - 20 cars) I was back in the van having bacon and eggs by 08.00, diesel tank full. £1.34.9 on Wednesday - £136.9 today. Not bad; the guy lost two days business from the shop as well. The Jet garage was hiked 10p/litre. Cherwell Valley Services on the way home: £1.61 and there was a queue!

In conclusion, it didn't spoil the break. In the event it was a minor inconvenience but there was a fair bit of anxiety we didn't need. Does anyone else get a depressing feeling of immense let-down by our fellow citizens?

[annv]

just spoken to my son they have a bus driver that has been waiting six months for DLVA to return his licence ben working in the yard so still employed you couldn't make it up.  Back in the 60's/70's when we petrol pumps and a paraffin pump all B P  (no diesel) we had to keep a certain amount of fuel in our tanks for emergencies not sure if 10% so when we had a strike by delivery drivers we had to make sure by adding up what we sold (dipping the tanks was only done by delivery driver) (one who showed me how to make rods read different) bit annoying at the time as we had fuel but couldn't sell it. I wonder if this is still a requirement today any body know? John

[RumPunch]

Well, I left home before six this morning to get to the airport for work. Tried to get fuel at Tesco Sprowston and the queue was back to the second roundabout, I have a job to do, so can't wait for an hour. Went via mousehold trying the three on the inner ring road / Aylsham road and they are all empty.

I have enough fuel for one more trip to home / work and that's it. Oh, the job ? Supporting the offshore industry

[Hylander]

11 minutes ago, RumPunch said:

Well, I left home before six this morning to get to the airport for work. Tried to get fuel at Tesco Sprowston and the queue was back to the second roundabout, I have a job to do, so can't wait for an hour. Went via mousehold trying the three on the inner ring road / Aylsham road and they are all empty.

I have enough fuel for one more trip to home / work and that's it. Oh, the job ? Supporting the offshore industry

Well we know who to thank for the empty pumps, all this lot that are as before greedy selfish self cantered.      I hope they all come to a sticky end.   We are due to fill up but will try at the end of the week and hopefully by then all these nutheads will have full tanks by then. 

[grendel]

fortunately I have enough (i think) to get me to the office twice this week for the meetings I have, but then I will need a fill up after that, I work in the utilitys industry (electricity supply) so cant really skip those meetings, currently doing my bit by working from home as much as I can.

[floydraser]

I work from home in a non essential business and Mrs can walk to work. Just been talking to the engineer I work for and he can't get petrol in Bicester but he has a petrol hybrid. He could manage 15 miles on a charge but needs more than that to get to the office. He's awaiting delivery of his all electric company car.

I think this just shows how vulnerable we would all be if we were all 100% electric. One power cut or strike and the country would grind to a halt.

[grendel]

even the threat of  a power cut, as then everyone would plug in to make sure they were charged, which would probably overload the whole system, beware the self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

even the threat of  a power cut, as then everyone would plug in to make sure they were charged, which would probably overload the whole system, beware the self fulfilling prophecy.

 

Yes, that would be even worse that a few petrol stations being empty.

I for one am not convinced on all electric. We still cannot easily store electricity domestically, and the capacity to generate it on demand, in the much greater quantities that will be needed in the future, is not there yet. 

[annv]

Hi Grendel I have Soler panels 16= 4Kw if grid goes of Soler is switched of! Quite understand reason for  this, is there a gismo that i can fit to get Soler power after first isolating meter  from grid other than inverter and battery bank please. John 

[grendel]

i dont know, all you would need a switch to isolate you from the grid presumably fitted between the meter and the consumer unit, back during the hurricane in 87 we had 2 fatalities due to people running generators and plugging them into the house electrics without isolating from the mains supply, this is probably why they are so stringent today

[floydraser]

Sunday evening, everyone plugs in ready for work on Monday - Phutt! - darkness. 

[grendel]

that is the crux of the matter, for normal household energy the supply companies work on average consumptions (called diversity in the trade), the average 3 bed house for example is rated at 2.5kW averaged through the day, but a car charger is either on or off, so you need to factor in the fact that they are all on together, whereas with houses where things are turned on and off through the day, the average works, thus if every house had a 10kw charger, that would push the average up to 12.5kw. if a house also has electric heating, another non diversifiable load, add another 5 kw for that. the government are not only pushing us towards all electric vehicles, but are slowly working to banish gas heating from new homes, the alternatives are electric, or some for of communal or district heating schemes. - easy to achieve in flats and such like, but not so easy in rural areas. (this can be achieved by using the the heat from generating electricity in some large developments with an energy centre.)

[Andrewcook]

Hi all I will not be pushed in to Electric Cars right  now but I will go over to Hybrid Cars  that are fine as to running on Batteries around Town for clean Air and Petrol engine kicks in when Battery needs recharging up this should help the National  Electricity  Grid from being over loaded

 

[Bikertov]

16 minutes ago, Andrewcook said:

Hi all I will not be pushed in to Electric Cars right  now but I will go over to Hybrid Cars  that are fine as to running on Batteries around Town for clean Air and Petrol engine kicks in when Battery needs recharging up this should help the National  Electricity  Grid from being over loaded

 

I'm not convinced on Hybrid cars in the real world.

As I understand, most of the time the battery is not being used, but you are lugging around the extra weight resulting in worse fuel consumption. And that is not taking into account the cost of the battery pack and it's service life replacement in a few years time.

[rightsaidfred]

12 minutes ago, Andrewcook said:

Hi all I will not be pushed in to Electric Cars right  now but I will go over to Hybrid Cars  that are fine as to running on Batteries around Town for clean Air and Petrol engine kicks in when Battery needs recharging up this should help the National  Electricity  Grid from being over loaded

 

Why not stick to diesel? We are now caught in the new low emission zone in London at £12.50 a day for older vehicles that don't meet the criteria, currently researching options for new cars including road fund license based on emissions and found small 1ltr petrol car and large 2ltr diesel with similar fuel consumption both in the same tax band so which is the most polluting.

Fred 

[ranworthbreeze]

37 minutes ago, grendel said:

that is the crux of the matter, for normal household energy the supply companies work on average consumptions (called diversity in the trade), the average 3 bed house for example is rated at 2.5kW averaged through the day, but a car charger is either on or off, so you need to factor in the fact that they are all on together, whereas with houses where things are turned on and off through the day, the average works, thus if every house had a 10kw charger, that would push the average up to 12.5kw. if a house also has electric heating, another non diversifiable load, add another 5 kw for that. the government are not only pushing us towards all electric vehicles, but are slowly working to banish gas heating from new homes, the alternatives are electric, or some for of communal or district heating schemes. - easy to achieve in flats and such like, but not so easy in rural areas. (this can be achieved by using the the heat from generating electricity in some large developments with an energy centre.)

Hi Peter the diversity factor has always been a flawed concept especially taking electric cooking into consideration with anyone that actually cooks.

Regards

Alan

[grendel]

Alan, flawed it may be but its what the industry have used for design when calculating the number of properties able to be placed on a substation, it only really applies where gas is an available alternative, as quite rightly if its an all electric property then the design takes into account no diversity, and we use the developers load calculations for heating and cooking and other power requirements. we must remember that a substation can run for short periods at 150% of normal load

[annv]

A Hybrid plug in would work for me, as i dont do many miles during the normal day just plug into house socket charge up over night use electric around town/locally then if on a long journey the geny would cut in to supply while driving then plug in at night to house plug. A straight hybrid would not be suitable this will work for taxis delivery's in centre then geny out side for rest of the day, nothing will be cheaper but some will still allow you to drive in town centres when combustion engines are not  allowed only outside centres which are driven all day for which a huge battery pack would be needed. John

[grendel]

that only works if you have a driveway or your house fronts or backs onto the road, for me I am second house in on a terrace built at right angles to our road. with only a footpath out front.

 

[annv]

Yes you are right it wont suit all, they will have to have a plan B or move house most planning these days require of street parking. John

[floydraser]

31 minutes ago, grendel said:

that only works if you have a driveway or your house fronts or backs onto the road, for me I am second house in on a terrace built at right angles to our road. with only a footpath out front.

 

Help is at hand. In Derby they are experimenting with wireless charging systems for taxis, so that they can charge and still move along the queue. They are installing charging pads in the road surface and charge pads under the cars. Early days though.