Yes, it really does say 38.9p for unleaded and 37.8p for diesel. I think the 41.6p is for the old 4 star. I think this pic dates from around 1992, because prices were about 5p more when I started driving in 1993. I remember the widespread disgust when prices reached 50p
Indeed, last time the fuel protest happened as the result of widespread disgust that fuel had topped 80p / llitre. Today, any garage selling petrol below 90p (incidentally, there would still a couple of 89.9s around last week in my neck of the woods) would be queued up for miles as people seek to take advantage of such a bargain.
I was queuing to get to the pumps for 15 minutes! I was watching the pumps, and I didn't see any of the morons putting in less than £25. Some cars were filling the tanks to the brim. I put in a fivers worth (just over 5 litres) which should see me until Friday.
Consider however, that as panic buying takes off, it becomes less and less idiotic to follow the idiots to start it. I filled my tank up to the brim today when I would never normally put more than a tenner in. Why? Because if these protests succesfully disrupt supply, it may well be a week before I get to put any petrol in again. Sticking in a tenner to last me the next few days isn't going to be much good when those few days are up and there's no petrol left to replace it.
I'd also be pretty screwed if I suddenly find myself needing to make an unexpected long journey and don't have much petrol in the car - I won't be able to buy any after all.
The situation in my town is escalating - a couple of garages last night were sold out of unleaded and had no more deliveries, and now most garages in the town have no unleaded, and a few have no fuel at all. And only 1 garage that I know of is getting a delivery tomorrow, which isn't going to be 5 minutes as it quickly becomes the only garage left in the town with any fuel left.
