Fuel Strike

We are no doubt all temporarily relived at the decision to avoid bank holiday chaos through both parties in the tanker driver’s dispute committing themselves to arbitration. The sigh of relief is soon to become, I fear, a gasp of exasperation as the price of fuel continues, with this as the latest excuse to rise exponentially – pushing at the £1.50 a litre mark. This is very serious stuff as it is making rural places increasingly expensive and ultimately unsustainable as living environments. Petrol prices also seem to help bid up fuel oil costs aswell building a “double whammy” effect for rural dwellers. I don’t think there is anywhere enough discussion of this angle in the current range of fuel related stories. This story is typical, for what it is worth, it goes on to tell us:

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “For nearly two years, we have been trying to persuade the fuel distribution sector to work with us to defend best practice across the industry.

“It is vital that common, minimum standards on safety, training, wages and pensions are agreed to put a floor of best practice in the sector.”

A spokesman for Hoyer, one of the firms involved in the dispute, said: “Given that safety is a mantra for our business, we believe there are some fundamental areas of agreement between ourselves and Unite over the need to harmonise health and safety standards across the industry.”

Its amazing how the use of a simple term like “Jerry Can” is capable of bringing down a heap of criticism on Government. What interest me more than the politics of the situation is how little fuel we have available at any one time in the UK as this article goes on to reveal:

“David Cameron, the Prime Minister, tried to calm the situation by saying there is “no imminent strike” as unions have to give seven days’ notice of a strike.

Brian Madderson, the petrol chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “This Government appears to be intent on creating a crisis out of a serious concern.

“We would have told them – had we been engaged with them – that there are now 6,000 fewer forecourts than there were at the time of the fuel blockade in 2000, and over and above that, our retailers are struggling financially. Volumes are down, margins are down and cashflow is very tight so they have probably got the lowest stock levels in their tanks underground at forecourts that they have ever had.”

I do wonder, with all the attendant challenges a lack of mobility threatens to bring to those living in rural England , if in some ways this will lead more people to think through the implications of the “ peak oil” scenario and provide an extra fillip to the transition towns movement?