Could the war lead to a ban in non-essential travel?

[nickpan]

What are people’s thoughts on news stories such as the below emerging today? Reminds me of a certain event of precisely 6 years ago…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg4540d0g4o

[sherman]

Just as well I am on my way back to Edinburgh from a week long trip seeing family in Cornwall then.

[bobtail4x4]

if they introduce fuel rationing, you may not have a choice,

wait for EV drivers to laugh?

[Megaflow]

nickpan said:

What are people s thoughts on news stories such as the below emerging today? Reminds me of a certain event of precisely 6 years ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg4540d0g4o

Good luck enforcing that after the government utterly took the piss last time.

[Inlineonline]

bobtail4x4 said:

if they introduce fuel rationing, you may not have a choice,

wait for EV drivers to laugh?

Delighted to oblige



Though a Summer of trackday bookings is not looking too clever. Maybe try the EV?

[cliffords]

bobtail4x4 said:

if they introduce fuel rationing, you may not have a choice,

wait for EV drivers to laugh?

They will increase the price of electricity for those on subsidised tariffs for charging. If we get fuel rationing it's in the discussion doc from earlier this week. More than 40% of electricity comes from gas and we are moving into summer with less wind .

[grumbledoak]

nickpan said:

What are people s thoughts on news stories such as the below emerging today? Reminds me of a certain event of precisely 6 years ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg4540d0g4o

that we are fed these headlines for a reason.

Someone is planning them and doesn't want the cattle to be too panicked by the announcement.

[the-norseman]

Hopefully my company gets the memo about the WFH bit, they have just increased our office time again to include nights, weekends and bank holidays.

[samoht]

nickpan said:

What are people s thoughts on news stories such as the below emerging today? Reminds me of a certain event of precisely 6 years ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg4540d0g4o

Nothing in the article mentions a ban on non-essential travel.


There are various measures the government could take to reduce fuel usage, such as the reduced motorway speed limits which are mentioned in the piece (and were applied in the 70s oil crisis).


Virtually none of our oil (ie petrol) comes through the strait of Hormuz
https://www.statista.com/statistics/381963/crude-o...

The countries who supply us (mainly the USA and Norway) will still have just as much oil available to sell, just at a higher price.


Given that petrol will remain available for those with the means to purchase it, it's not obvious to me why the already-unpopular government would risk making itself even more widely hated by restricting people's freedoms. The fractional reduction in UK oil consumption would make only a trivial dent in prices. It would somewhat protect the balance of payments, but also risks throttling economic growth.


The International Energy Agency may make recommendations, but they don't have to worry about being re-elected.

[vikingaero]

Inlineonline said:

bobtail4x4 said:

if they introduce fuel rationing, you may not have a choice,

wait for EV drivers to laugh?

Delighted to oblige



Though a Summer of trackday bookings is not looking too clever. Maybe try the EV?

You do realise that many people that you depend on in daily life drive ICE cars/vans/LGVs/HGVs and without them at their workstations you could be scuppered?

[kambites]

An outright ban? No.

"Incentives" to avoid it, certainly.

[Pica-Pica]

We've never learnt since 1956, 1973, and subsequent episodes.
We should have secured our own energy supply by now.

[nickpan]

samoht said:

Nothing in the article mentions a ban on non-essential travel.


There are various measures the government could take to reduce fuel usage, such as the reduced motorway speed limits which are mentioned in the piece (and were applied in the 70s oil crisis).


Virtually none of our oil (ie petrol) comes through the strait of Hormuz
https://www.statista.com/statistics/381963/crude-o...

The countries who supply us (mainly the USA and Norway) will still have just as much oil available to sell, just at a higher price.


Given that petrol will remain available for those with the means to purchase it, it's not obvious to me why the already-unpopular government would risk making itself even more widely hated by restricting people's freedoms. The fractional reduction in UK oil consumption would make only a trivial dent in prices. It would somewhat protect the balance of payments, but also risks throttling economic growth.


The International Energy Agency may make recommendations, but they don't have to worry about being re-elected.

I’m aware it doesn’t say that specifically - I was extrapolating based on the situation’s current trajectory.

[valiant]

May have to get my covid essential worker letter out of storage.

[Earthdweller]

During the last oil crisis the Gov restricted electricity supply to 3 consecutive days and there were widespread blackouts to conserve fossil fuel stocks

More recently the Swiss restricted charging of EV's in winter to conserve electricity

I wouldn't get too smug

[Michael_B]

Earthdweller said:

More recently the Swiss restricted charging of EV's in winter to conserve electricity

Back in 2022 there were proposals to include EV use restrictions in case of extreme electricity shortages, but way down the list of measures after first limiting many other energy use cases.

As a Swiss citizen who has driven >200k kms in a EV here since 2019, I can confirm that at no time (winter or otherwise) has my EV charging been limited by the government.

[Pica-Pica]

Earthdweller said:

During the last oil crisis the Gov restricted electricity supply to 3 consecutive days and there were widespread blackouts to conserve fossil fuel stocks

More recently the Swiss restricted charging of EV's in winter to conserve electricity

I wouldn't get too smug

I remember that well. At work we took truck batteries from our truck factory, and rigged them up in the engineering offices. They provided light to work by, and we recharged them on the days when electricity was available. A farce really.

[bergclimber34]

The way fuel prices are rocketing, near me up 20p a litre in a few days, I will certainly not be doing any non essential travel after this weekend.

I just refuse to be ripped off by the greediest bds on earth if I can help it.

[Tango13]

Pica-Pica said:

Earthdweller said:

During the last oil crisis the Gov restricted electricity supply to 3 consecutive days and there were widespread blackouts to conserve fossil fuel stocks

More recently the Swiss restricted charging of EV's in winter to conserve electricity

I wouldn't get too smug

I remember that well. At work we took truck batteries from our truck factory, and rigged them up in the engineering offices. They provided light to work by, and we recharged them on the days when electricity was available. A farce really.

My dad was working in a cam auto (automatic lathe where the tool movement is controlled by cams) shop at the time, they could set the machines without electricity so when they did have power they ran the machines for three days / 72hrs without a break

[DeejRC]

bergclimber34 said:

The way fuel prices are rocketing, near me up 20p a litre in a few days, I will certainly not be doing any non essential travel after this weekend.

I just refuse to be ripped off by the greediest bds on earth if I can help it.

In other words, entirely within ones own purview as the market self limits. Which is exactly what I thought most ppl would do first before caring about what any govts said. Unlike the OP who seems to worry about what any govts would do first before worrying about what he/she/it would do long before caring about anything govt said.