h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks Goof, I passed it onto my parents, I should be able to go out to work now.

Just a quick update on the petrol crises in the West Midlands, we have non. Hope the train is cancelled tomorrow then I have to stay at home !!! yippee!!

Why did the bus company that supply my school have to fill thier resevoir of diesel just before the crisis. Most of the other school's have had to shut but not mine

Mwahahaha!
Actually, I can't laugh, I'm on works experience so if the school closes down because nobody can get there, I still have to go to "work"...

Mwahahaha!
Actually, I can't laugh, I'm on works experience so if the school closes down because nobody can get there, I still have to go to "work"...


~~A~~

Every cloud has a silver lining....

Fuel Crisis Big Winner For Some
07:22AM Thu Sep 14 2000 NZST

Demand for New Zealand dairy produce is at a premium as a result of the fuel crisis in Britain.

Two thirds of British service stations are now without fuel, after protests at price increases of petrol and diesel throughout Europe strangled supplies.

New Zealand Milk UK Limited, which distributes Anchor products, says the British government has deemed dairy products a necessity so fuel has been made available for deliveries to continue.

Managing Director Simon Tuckey says consumers are stocking up on butter so sales for many dairy products have increased substantially in the last two days.

He says many employees are car pooling in order to stretch their petrol out as much as possible.

It may be "healthy" to show the "dictatorial government" that they cannot get away with something, but I do not think that car fumes themselves are very healthy, nor do they benefit us all!

Stick the price of petrol up a few more quid by taxation and lets get some of that money spent on health, education and the environment. Get your bikes out you lazy motorists, the new century is here. Sustainable transport and, God forbid, car sharing is the only way forward. (But I doubt Mr Motorist, isolated in his tin box, would want to share his personal space).

Whats going to happen tomorrow?

Well, tomorrow I'm going to get to work in record time because there'll be hardly any traffic.

Has anyone noticed how pleasant driving has been over the last couple of days? It's fantastic.

I also wouldn't mind knowing how many lives have been saved by the reduction in traffic (along with the number of injuries and damage to property and cars)...

If the petrol companies really wanted to get supplies moving, they could offer extra money to their drivers to cross the picket lines. If, say, half of them agreed and the other half still refused, we'd be back to a tolerable situation within a couple of days. Based on what the NHS is saying, that won't be soon enough to stop people dying (community nurses in some rural areas are already off the road), but we'd not be looking at mass chaos.

Given that the companies don't seem to be all that keen to get supplies moving again, I guess we go on for another couple of days and then the army gets sent in.

Here in Swindon, the buses will apparently still be running tomorrow, but will be dodgy on Friday and then that's it. I'm lucky - I live 4 miles from my office, which is walkable. A bit miserable if it rains, but probably good for me in the long run.

My friends who live further away will be laid off once they can't get to work any more. They can take paid holiday if they have any of this year's allocation left, otherwise it's unpaid.

Almost all of us have reasonable salaries and understanding bank managers, so it's not as if we're going to starve. Serious trouble will only start if there are mass lay-offs at, for example, the Rover and Honda car plants.

After which there'll be a few thousand volunteers to help the police clear the picket lines...

I'll be on the tube again (as normal). I read that Vauxhall were about to run out of petrol at their elsmere port plant and so production would have to slow down or stop when they couldn't test the cars they're bulding because of it.

This post has been removed.

There'll be no more petrol in 20 years, will the human race die out then?

It's great to see a more balanced argument than the opinion polls seem to show. To those that support the blockaders, some questions...
Do you WANT the better schools, roads, hospitals, help for the disadvantaged, etc that was promised by New Labour?
Where do you think the money (£43billion at the last handout) comes from, thin air?
If this has made you decide not to vote Blair the next time (I didn't the last time by the way), who do you think is gonna make a better fist of it, William Hague?
Do you want to live in a country where democracy can be usurped by narrow self-interest groups.
Do you realise that farmers (the most vociferous self-interest group) pay around 3p a litre in excise duty?
Why is it, when the blockaders, the oil companies, the tanker drivers, the government and those queueing for petrol want the emergency services supplied, it's not happening? (Maybe the guy who was pictured in most of this morning's papers filling eight five-gallon drums and putting them in the back of his van knows somethying about it.)
Fuel excise duty went to 48.8p a litre in March, why no blockades then?
I'm no fan of Tony Blair but he's had just over three years to try to put right eighteen years of Tory wrecking of public services. Seems to me he's doing the best he can. Panic buying is NOT HELPING YOU F***ING IDIOTS!

Sorry, but I'm really angry about this whole thing.

w

'Do you WANT the better schools, roads, hospitals, help for the disadvantaged, etc that was promised by New Labour?'

Yes, we do. And half the problem is that after 3 years there seems to be no sign of them actually appearing rather than just announcing that they will appear.

I work for a local Council and none of this extra money comes our way. Quite the contrary, we are constantly expected to provide an ever-increasing range of services for the same money. Furthermore, my wife works at a school and they only way they get more computers, etc is by people saving up their Tesco/Walkers coupons.

As has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum, the money to cut the tax take on fuel could easily be found from the Dome/Portcullis House pot.

I have no confidence that any other party would have done things differently. The only reason I vote is because I feel it gives me the right to complain, which is a sad reflection on the class of politician that we get.

Yes, we all want better healthcare, schools etc, but it is getting worse not better. Since Labour came into power, the divide between rich and poor as increased - they have done nothing for the disadvantaged, infact they have done nothing but feather their own nests - this they learnt from the Tories. This governement, with its massive parliamentary majority, rapidly adopted an arrogance that, for the benefit of all of us, needed to be checked. There is no better way to do that than by bringing the Country to its knees within a few days. Perhaps, now they might come down from the 'ivory tower' and start listening to the people.

Increasing the price of petrol taxes eveyone across the board and as usual it is the ones who can't afford it who feel it most. A more practical solution would be to tax the vehicles which gobble up the fuel unnecessarily - where I live the supermarket car parks are always full of massive 4WDs such as 4.6 litre Range Rovers, which barely do 10 mpg. If a very heafty road tax was placed on cars of, say, more than 2.5 litres, it might reduce the number of unnecessarily large cars on the roads and those still on the road would be paying a very hefty premium for the priviledge.

As far as the fuel supplies not reaching the hospital staff is concerned, a manager from each hosiptal should have liased with the police/refineries as to where emergency fuel would be delivered and then notified ALL its staff (doctors/nurses/cleaners etc) where to to go fill up. If people put their minds to it, they can overcome any kind of adversity, but most people prefer to sit back, watch the ensuing chaos and then blame everyone else. To expect the hopital staff to magically know where to get the emergency supplies is a little unrealistic.

(For those really desperate, borrow a diesel car, fill it up with red diesel (heating oil) and send the difference in price to the tax man, that way you can't be done for tax evasion).

That's my morning moan over, now for my cup of tea.....oh, no, there's no milk, bring in the Army now!!!!

Looks like the beginning of the end, folks!
Armed forces on standby may not be needed now (I knew yesterday afternoon that Troops would be getting involved if there was no improvement!)
Tony Blair has now been given 60 days breathing space to sort it out.

I for one am not going to hold by breath!!!

'G'

Nothing to say this morning Goof?

I had a letter from my child's school yesterday saying that it might have to close if staff can't get in.
I rang up and offered to go and collect any that have trouble. I still have fuel in my car. Can't have my kid suffering. (Or hanging round the house all day.)
And the roads are lovely and quiet today.

Regarding the apparent NHS 'crisis' due to the fuel problems:

It is not true. It is just the Cabinet trying to shift public opinion about the protest.

Blood transfusion service crippled? - No. They are reporting no problems at all, and are 'Monitoring the situation'.

Hospitals cancelling operations? - Not in any of the trusts I have contacts in, including Barts & The London (London), Bassetlaw (Notts), Royal Devon & Exeter (Exeter), Homerton (London), QMC (Nottingham). This is from colleagues working there, and in the case of Barts & The London is the exact opposite of what an offical Dept of Health statement said.

Hospitals unable to clear waste? - Not true.

Hospitals running out of fuel to heat & generate leccy? - Again not true. Red Diesel has as far as I can tell been getting out to the hospitals.

If anyone has any information to the contrary, please let me know, so I can keep my colleagues up to date.

- Adam