The UK has been wrapped up in a quite frankly embarrassing situation. Due to the lack of drivers, there has been a nationwide petrol shortage. The public returned back to the same actions as the first lockdown and as a result of panic buying and the overall shortage, many fuel stations have shut down or have a £30 limit.
There has been a silent increase in prices as the demand for fuel has increased as shown by the statistics on the right.
If we analyse the main cause of the problem we can see the lack of workers and drivers who previously delivered the fuel were mainly from the EU, and as Brexit is in action many returned to their respective countries leaving many empty vacancies. So does this point fingers towards the tories and their miraculous Brexit plan or are the British people turning a blind eye and not willing to take on important employment like this?
A BBC article mentions that "many oil companies have stressed there is plenty of fuel available" yet people are still panicking? The main finger is pointed towards the media, every single news article or news channel that conveyed this news played a big part in manipulating the British towards the havoc caused in the last few weeks.
If the media didn't exaggerate and create panic the situation wouldn't have escalated this severe. I read an incident that occurred with a healthcare worker. The nurse was stuck without fuel and arrived an hour or so late to the elderly patients home she looked after; only to see the poor elderly woman had to lay in her own urine for an hour waiting for her nurse to arrive. These are the types of strain and problems the publics actions are taking a toll on.
On the bright side, the telegraph mentions in their article that hundreds of people have taken their driving tests for the empty vacancies in the past week so we hope to see more drivers in action soon.
The government is also stating military officers will be delivering fuel in the meantime like mentioned by the BBC.
However, looking at this situation sociologically, we as individuals need to ensure we are not led by the institutions like the media; as societies, we are all blindly led together by the choice of others and are not thinking for ourselves. If the fuel companies have reassured us and the government is also stating the media created an excess mess then we should use our brains and analyse the situation ourselves. Despite seeing through our own eyes, the panic buying of the first lockdown showed us that there was no shortage after all and there was enough food and toiletry for everyone to buy sensibly. However, everyone was led by the false narrative of the media, yet again we as humans fell blatantly for the fuel crisis. Like a herd of sheep, the nation is; we should be able to think and understand for ourselves and care for each other and essential workers without being led blindly.
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