As the Easter holiday approaches, many Britons are actually rising in the wee hours of the night to line up at the pumps as petrol panic strikes the nation. Not only are lines snaking their way out of petrol stations but the sale of jerry cans has also skyrocketed. In fact, at least 33% of petrol stations ran out of fuel yesterday amidst fears that delivery tankers would take industrial action. All this is on top of a 179 percent increase in prices within just one day last week.
Although tension is running high, Unite announced yesterday that they would not seek industrial action as they had previously hinted but consumers are still in a state of panic over whether or not fuel will be available on the coming holiday. It appears as though this is highly a politically stoked event as the Tory and Labour parties fight it out in Parliament. Labour relies heavily on the 2,000 tanker-strong Unite union and with drivers threatening a strike, this gives ammunition to Tories.
The bottom line is that consumers in the western world have a real addiction to crude oil and just the thought of running short on supplies sends them into panic mode. Whether it is running short of supplies or the lack of delivery, the case is still the same. It will send people out at all hours of the night to fill up so that they are not left without. This is enough to ignite political chaos at any time of year, but just before the upcoming Easter holiday, the situation is even more volatile.
With global demand rising beyond control, prices are going through the roof. This does little to appease consumers and even though Unite assured the public that they will not strike prior to Easter weekend, tension is still quite high.
