Bit worried at mo as we're away and there seem worse shortages here in Dorset. We have enough for our half way home stop so hope it's better in the Midlands!
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Nationwide shortages are now being reported even though the terminals being targeted are in the south. The BBC and PRA had sensibly kept it off the news headlines, but yesterday the press decided it needed to sell more newspapers. The result was very quick where we live. Queues at Sainsbury, Morrisons closed, Tesco introduced restrictions. Hope you get back okay.
The Midlands is one of the worst areas, the oil distribution depot at Kingsbury, Warks is being targeted by protestors
Oh dear! Work won't be happy if we get stuck. We would possibly do it on one tank if I do like we did on the way down. Drive at 50. And not use any before we leave. Mmmm!
I’m off to the Forest of Dean today and my tank is full, but I will limit my outings to walking from the site, and to the pub about 1.0 miles away.
I wonder if they do actually sell more newspapers when they have these sort of headlines? Probably a myth these days.
If we see such a headline, I check it out using Google and based on reading some articles I make a decision. In the latest case it was reported on another caravan forum about a week ago and I the decided to fill up last Thursday for Easter weekend.
I did not notice any queues at the service stations I passed yesterday in Worcester at about midday. Maybe different now though.
There won't be queues at filling stations with no fuel !!!
They had fuel as there were some cars on the forecourts, just no queues. Passed a rural service station this morning and no queues, but at nearly £1.80 a litre quite understandable. I did not go into either town.
There will be, if you have no fuel, and have to just wait for a fuel delivery. Last week I had to go to 4 garages before I managed to fill up
The newspapers and the Internet spreads scare stories so every oen rushes out to fill up before Easter creating the shortage. Come Easter as everyone has filled up at a higher price, service station owners are happy due to increased profits and we are swimming within fuel that they can't give away!
@10p a litre and 20mpg, its an extra pound for every 45 miles towed.
But its not 10p. Last year diesel was £1.39 a litre. Now it's £1.79 a litre, so more like 40p extra. Thats an extra pound for every 11 miles towed. So a 250 mile each way, 500 mile round trip is an extra £45, or an extra £145 for a 1600 mile whole season.
Sure - its probably still in the noise when you consider insurance, pitch costs, storage, servicing and so on, and of course the rest of the fuel costs (another £500 for that 1600 miles) but it is mounting up...
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Good news is that oil prices are falling with Brent at $103 yesterday, which by past experience will not be passed on to customer very quickly, but it will affect gas prices/electricprices which are linked to oil, so the new October energy cap may not be as severe as predicted. But there is much water to flow between now and October.
I think the UK electricity prices are more linked to gas than oil (the UK peak generation is gas). With Russia having cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, the pressure will be on Norway to fill the gaps. Thats not going to do the European prices much good...
I am going for more solar!
Agreed but aren't gas prices linked to oil price per barrel, and our gas sales reflect international prices as does Norways, in which case electric generated from gas fired stations etc etc... This high pressure system isn't doing much to help, but at least the sun is shining.
Does the UK still have large fields of untapped gas in the North sea? I can recall someone mentioning gas from Norway Is it shipped or is it a pipeline to the UK?
We get about 30% of our gas from Norway, almost 50%from our own fields and a percentage as LPG shipped into UK. So UK has no gas supply problem, just one of price which is set by world markets. Currently with China's demand slumping because of Covid lock downs price pressures have eased off, but that slump has/will create knock on effects on other commodities and goods.
uk-gas-sources
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Or a fortnight on our favourite CL in Norfolk - but if £145 means so little to you, you could give any of us the £145!
Why do you require to feel the need to put it into perspective? £145 is £145 whichever way you look at it. With the pressure on other costs facing families and other sections of society they may not be even able to afford two nights in a Premier Inn.
We are away at present on a service pitch including the dogs for four nights for £120 having a well deserved break .
Lets have a think…
Big gas guzzling 4x4 to tow caravan
Caravan that costs more than most people earn
Nope, I'm not getting why £145 is an issue - if it is, maybe caravanning isn't for them and they should buy a tent?
I suspect there are plenty of folks towing caravans that are only £3K to £5K market value or less, but are worth far more to them. And are towing with the family car (which may of course do more than 20mpg towing). If you are able to store the van at home, and can keep servicing and insurance down, that extra cost to tow may well limit touring. I.e. head 20 miles down the road instead of 200, to an equally priced CL, and spend the £40 saved on food and drink for the holiday.
The reality is fuel prices are just the tip of the iceberg, Whilst we have seen some eyewatering price increases for fuel and energy, and for some that meigh be enough to temper their caravanning exploits, its the general increases in everything that all add up, and with headline inflation figures in the order 8% It highly likely that some caravanners will change their caravanning habits to help manage their overall living costs.
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