Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

The crisis was manufactured by the current government to get people to fill up regularly before a strike. That puts a lot of pressure on the union as people are already prepared and don't have empty tanks if there is a strike. Add to that the troops training as tanker drivers and you have a good government strategy. It has resulted in the union calling off a strike at present. If there is a strike now, the public will start filling up more regularly.

Government 1 Unite union 0.

If you remember Maggie Thatcher built up coal stocks for a couple of years prior to the miners strike. That worked as well.

We didn't fill up at all during the panic period as it seemed clear what was happening.

I know this has been covered on the previous page, but the Press are now clamouring for a ministerial resignation because a woman decided to decant some petrol from one container to another in her kitchen whilst cooking the dinner on a gas hob. Is anyone really that stupid? Sadly it seems as though they are and a someone's career may end because of it.
I'm with you Haystack. Cameron's comment was not 'off the cuff' but a strategy remark which worked well.

But at what cost to the perceived opinion that the government gave wrong advice in a forth coming emergency. The advice to store petrol at home was totally wrong and condemned by the motoring association's .

Everyone who has a motorbike, lawnmower or outboard engine stores petrol 'at home', it's just that they have the sense to store it in the shed or garage in a proper container. It's called common sense!

It wasn't 'store it at home'. It was a jerry can in the garage.

Interesting read about storing petrol. Just wonder if your household insurance would be invalid ? The way the above reads not legal to put 20 LTRS of petrol in one can, must be split into two cans.


http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/kent/factsheets/FS40NEW%20nov07%20petrolhome.pdf

While on the subject of petrol. Read an interesting article stating do not fill a petrol can while it sits in the back of a pick up truck, place it on the forecourt floor.
The can can pick up a static charge/ spark. Say no more.

It is instructive to note the principles of Darwin at work when we see a woman pouring petrol into a jug in her kitchen whilst cooking on a gas stove. In a few million years we may see that particular species is extinct. Scientists in the future will only speculate that such a doomed species ever existed.

Brave man Haystack! I have a feeling that you might get some return fire from that one!

As a government you can't assume that everyone as common sense when you issue advice to the public. How many people have died and been injured letting off fire works , lighting Bar B Q's and fires with petrol

So we have to allow for the lowest common denominator and no one takes resposibilty for their actions?

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The AA has warned of "stupid and very dangerous" actions being taken by panicked drivers.

In a statement, the motoring organisation said that in Macclesfield, Cheshire, one observer had seen an elderly woman using a petrol pump to fill jam jars.

Another man was seen at the same petrol station filling one gallon washing-up liquid bottles with fuel.

AA president Edmund King said: "Some people seem to have lost any sense of proportion."

For the above the petrol station concerned wants prosecuting. They should not turn the pumps on for these --------

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Hays,

You are reminding me more and more of Baldrick of “Blackadder” fame.

It obvious who is Baldrick, with his “I have a cunning plan”.


Which of the cabinet is Captain Edmund Blackadder and going over the top.

We know which is General Melchett.. Just wonder where his hatchet may fall?

(I am not referring to Aldwick.)

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If negotiations fail and UNITE decide on calling a strike when the holiday is over, what will be the advice.


Regarding Cameron and Maggie Thatcher. Maggie Thatcher, although she was a -----, she was intelligent and politically astute and thought out her policies (other than the Poll tax).

Didn’t like many of her other policies and certainly the way she implemented them.

Cameron seems to me have over inflated valuation of his own intelligence and if it had not been for his PR machine, a worn out government and World recession, the latter was not improved some untimely decisions of that labour government.

His poor decisions are partially due to detachment and arrogance.


Scargill’s decision to call a strike has little parallel with Unite’s threat to a fuel strike.

I would think that the Unite leadership was estimating and showing the strength of feeling within the union for strike action, before negotiating with an incalcitrant government, or at least those they see as “representative” of it.

Whether the dispute is justifiable or not, I wouldn’t judge, all I can say, is the government’s statements and withdrawals of statements (u-turns) related to “shortage of fuel and storage” were cack-handed.

Scargill completely mistimed the “walk out”. That was pointed out to him at the time, but like Cameron he failed to seek, or ignored advice given.
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The origins of that strike lay with governments of all genre, from WW2 on, refusing to recognise, or admit that many (perhaps majority in some areas) of the Coal Mines were “worked out”, inefficient, badly managed and unfortunately, unlikely to be profitable. This was coupled with ideological unions made rationalisation of the problems difficult.

Many did had no dispute Maggie Thatcher’s reasoning or wish to resolve the problem, but many consider the manner which she did it was inappropriate to a modern society.

The mass unemployment, with destruction of working communities without attempts to replace the loss of jobs and support systems, is what she is rightly condemned for.

Whether or not, the period, with negotiation could have been extended and less harsh I don’t know.

But there are similarities of this government’s actions, with those of her government.

That is the uncaring harshness of its actions on parts of the community with its unnecessary haste to being pecuniary solvent.

Just wonder if the strike goes ahead how many people will be scratching their heads in the morning thinking the car had a full tank when I went to bed.
There will be a few tanks with holes drilled in them. :-))

Well atleast they have been left with the car, :-))

The Five Best Ways To Steal Gas…And One Really Bad Way

admit it. The last time you put £90 of gas into your Camry, the idea crossed your mind for at least a split second. Like any other commodity, it's easier to steal gas than it is to pay for it. So if you're looking for a way — totally for informational purposes, of course — here's five of the best — and one really bad way — to do it:

5. Siphoning Fuel From Someone Else's Tank





Pros: Being able to pick the location, secluded is best. The ability to directly target your enemies. Relatively simple and cheap.

Cons: No way to check how much fuel is in the tank before you decide to steal it. Applying suction by mouth may result in severe vomiting, recurring nightmares, cancer, addiction.

Instructions: Insert a small, stiff pipe into a vehicle's gas tank. Apply suction. When fuel starts to flow, place pipe exit below tank height and fill jerry can.


4. The Old Switcheroo





Pros: No special tools or knowledge needed (except a midget or small child).

Cons: Requires a relatively advanced level of grifting, limited time means you probably won't get away with a full tank. Risk of confrontation is high.

Instructions: Simply create a distraction while your assistant swaps someone's paid-for pump into your own tank.


3. RFID Hacking



Pros: Non-confrontational. Little physical effort required. Perfect for nerds.

Cons: Requires a high-level tech know-how. It's a felony offense. High up-front equipment cost.

Instructions: Many gas stations offer SpeedPass-style pay-by-RFID. Unlike RFID cloning a credit card, the encryption ciphers in these cards are vulnerable to a brute force attack. Crack the code and give yourself free gas for life.


2. Siphoning On An Industrial Scale





Pros: The economies of scale. Relatively stealthy. High profit margins.

Cons: Requires the possession and subsequent modification of a large trailer. Penalties are commiserate with the scale of the theft.

Instructions: Pull a trailer fitted with a trap door, a large tank and a pump over a gas station's underground reservoir. While you pretend to make repairs under the hood, have an assistant open the trailer's trap door, insert a pipe down into the reservoir and then pump out the gas.


1. Pump Hacking





Pros: The ability to fill up multiple vehicles. Very stealthy. Once learned, this is a skill with near universal applicability.

Cons: Requires specialist knowledge and tools.

Instructions: Details are murky, but it appears that fuel pump service tools are making their way into thieves' hands. Get your hands on such a device, the technical know how to use it, exploit the system.


-1. Drilling Gas Tanks





Pros: Any idiot with a drill can do it.

Cons: Spark, fire, death, destruction. Permanently damages another person's vehicle, and that's just wrong.

Instructions: Climb under car with drill, make hole, slide container under cascade of highly flammable liquid. Best to avoid open flames, static electricity, cell phones, electric drills.

*Note: Gasoline is most flammable as a vapor. By drilling a tank, you're removing a liquid while leaving behind vapor. Vapor will also permeate the area around the vehicle. Even if you manage to avoid setting yourself on fire, there's always a chance the car may blow up when the owner tries to start it. Killing people is bad.

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