Motorists on the Isle of Wight are hopelessly searching for fuel as many forecourts struggle to keep up with demand, at the same time that the cost reaches a staggering 177.9p a litre.
Many filling stations across the Island are having to turn customers away due to a lack of fuel, brought on by a surge in demand as drivers ‘panic buy’ at the pumps. Others, such as Whitwell Garage, have put a £20 maximum spend on purchases.
The ever-increasing cost of both petrol and diesel is worrying drivers, forcing a rush to fill up. It comes as fuel at the Texaco garage in East Cowes hits 177.9p/l for diesel and 164.0p/l for unleaded – quite possibly one of the highest costs ever seen by many.
Island Echo readers have been in touch to express their frustration at a lack of available fuel – with 1 even claiming that Newport was seemingly without supply for 4 days. Others have described the situation as a lottery, not knowing if a station has petrol or diesel, both or neither!
Demand on individual forecourts in the East Wight has been exacerbated with the closure of The Broadway Garage in Sandown for planned maintenance works. This has diverted a number of motorists to nearby Tesco Ryde and Morrisons Lake, with the latter only having petrol as of Sunday morning.
It’s clear that there is no shortage of fuel nationwide. Instead, the issue appears to be around getting tankers across the Solent and to forecourts quickly enough. It’s not entirely clear whether the closure of the East Cowes fuel terminal in 2020 has made the situation worse than it would otherwise have been had the terminal remained.
Why are you making news about this !!!
I get you have to report things but this is going to make those self-centered people run out and buy fuel that otherwise would not need to.
Which means people like myself who work in the community will find it harder to fill up our cars when they go into the red.
Who is making the additional profit on this !
I waited a week myself to see if things subsided. (Wishful thinking). But today I had to get fuel myself, I felt bad but I had no other choice.
Osborne Garage is notorious for being one of the more expensive petrol stations on the Island. On the main road to/from the ferry terminal…
Taking advantage of their location possibly?
Went by rownham services on m27 Friday and unleaded was 173.9!
Eventually common sense prevailed at Morissons Newport this morning( eventually) as someone was keeping a gap at the carpark exit so that shoppers that didn’t want petrol could exit without having to wait hours ( like last time). If you did want petrol, you had to go round the loop and queue. Good idea and probably put of some that could only squeeze in a fiver’s worth….
The fuel shortage on the Island is of your own making STOP PANIC BUYING the prices will continue to go up and you will still pay more when you fill up in a weeks time. When will you all learn.
It’s greed that’s why ,people will never learn , never. Selfish society we’ve become .
Odd that as the cost of Brent oil goes up, so does the cost at the petrol pump! !
But as soon as the cost of Brent oil goes gown, does the cost at the pump go down?
Absolutely NOT, it can take several months for that to happen.
Capitalism at it’s best! The Market rules.
Morrisons this morning was blooming ridiculous queued right up past Honor and Jeffery and back to Aldi like a lot of sheep all following each other but they don’t realise the more they buy the dearer it will be next time
The last paragraph of this article is classic. So it’s not clear that closing a storage terminal here with it’s huge capacity then being completely reliant on bringing everything by road tanker from the mainland has anything to do with the constant shortages of fuel?
Doh!
Even when the storage deport was here most fuel came by road tanker as the barges that brought the fuel had been cut down in number and were often delayed by tides or weather. The depot often fan out of fuel and we had to have it brought over by road.
It ran out one time before this so it’s not really a big deal.
There are panic buyers and there are people trying to buy fuel to refill empty cars, I have family been trying for days and getting turned away. it’s good that they’re doing the £20 cap again but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s very little fuel coming our way, the Russians contributed a lot to the supply we had and now they’re contributing to the lack of supply. let’s not all be angry at each other. it wont change anything for the better
From the Russians? Think the Saudi/US would disagree with you there.
the russians supply a minute amount of the oil we use and most of our gas comes from Norway
Only on the island (there’s no panic buying of petrol on mainland) so what does that say about people here
I would suggest it is down to the islands demographic still harbouring fears that the Russains are coming, the Russians are coming!
That’s odd because there were large queues outside Portsmouth.
All of you panic buying are useless pathetic scum
Unless you genuinely need fuel don’t keep filling up !!!!!
Prices are higher because they rise due to demand so stop filling up with stupid amounts …..
Most journeys on the island are short journeys!!!!
So if you can car share school trips instead of half a dozen using your 4 wheel gas guzzlers do it !!!!! Or walk if you can or use school buses !!!!!
Think of those that need fuel , ie care worker’s Doctors Dentists nurses etc etc etc!!!!
Absolute morons panic buying that affects people who need it for getting to work or delivering items, ect during the day, stop topping up your 90pences you idiots there is plenty of fuel, i would do a minimum of £ 20 per visit!
Instead of a £20 cap why not a £20 minimum spend? That would stop the panic buyers. If they can only squeeze in £5 they still pay £20.
Its not those people emptying our tanks its people who normally but £10 to £15 in putting £50 or £60 in if suddenly customers put in 4 x their normal spend we run out in a day. By putting in £20 there is plenty to go round and the deliveries can keep up. Come and work at a petrol station then you would understand.
Pleased iv got my electric bike
This Tory Government could help everyone by taking less Tax from Fuel
at these difficult times.
In the UK we pay over double what the U.S pay for their fuel.
Our Government are greedy.
We pay
Income Tax
National Insurance
Council Tax
Car Tax
Tax on savings if luckily enough to have savings
Etc Etc
Way too go echo! Well done
So maybe time to address the laws and policing on private e-scooters then?
Dont need to worry about fuel on my Beryl scooter. Cheap to use, too.
Cue downvotes as electric scootesr are the devils work and must be burnt with fire and stabbed with pitchforks….
Just been talking to a Morrison’s fuel tanker driver who is one of two who deliver every day and he says that they are scratching their heads as to why the Island is in panic mode when the rest of the country are carrying on as normal. They say there is no shortage anywhere so it must be “some sort of Island interbreeding phenomenon” – their sentiments not mine.
Brilliant, love that!!
Save some money, make your lazy teenage kids walk, bus, or cycle to school….Good for the climate and there health, and may even save the NHS a few quid..
Who are all these absolute weapons? If they are this stupid. They certainly don’t have the wits to drive a car. Let alone fill it up.
As I always say. Everybody should try riding a motorbike instead of driving on their own, in a car. If 25% of world’s population rode a bike instead of driving. It would eliminate congestion worldwide. True Story. Then all helmets panic buying…….. Eliminated!
??? What type of helmets are you talking about ? Crash helmets or the other kind of helmet ?