At first, I thought drivers lining up in case there was a fuel shortage were foolish. Then I joined them
Before this weekend, I had never seen a petrol station cashier answer a telephone. Yet here he was, this harassed man in front of me, fielding several calls as I queued to pay for my fuel. “I would come soon if I were you,” he suggested to one caller. “We haven’t got much left.”
A couple of hours earlier I had been relaxing in the bliss of the era before this latest episode of Crisis UK – the nationwide rush for petrol, ultimately sparked by labour shortages in the haulier industry. I admit that I had read the news of clogged forecourts with a sense of smugness at the perceived foolishness of those involved – collectively worsening the problem that they were trying to avoid. Then I joined them. My fuel story was that I had a call from my wife who reminded me that she was planning to drive her mother from Essex to Norwich to visit her new grandson. The trip had been planned for months and so, of course, was one of those marked essential. And our tank was empty.