'Stop being stupid!' NHS workers urge Brits to stop panic-buying fuel
25 September 2021, 14:18 | Updated: 25 September 2021, 14:26
This nurse broke down after revealing she has had sleepless nights over whether she'll have enough petrol to reach her patients.
Shaz phoned in from Greenwich to urge listeners to stop panic-buying fuel, as she is coming under immense stress in trying to get petrol so she can visit her patients.
"Stop panic buying because you’re putting us at risk" she told Matt Frei.
Read more: Drivers pack cars with jerry cans and £30 cap introduced as panic-buyers scramble for fuel
She told LBC that her husband got up at 2am, went to 5 stations and couldn’t get any petrol to assure her that she could reach all her patients.
Read more: Panic-buying fuel is 'bad news', petrol station owner tells LBC
The caller then broke into tears: "I don’t know how I'm going to get to my patients, I haven’t slept all night because I was up until 4 in the morning wondering if I’ll get fuel to see my patients."
When Matt asked the nurse what could be done by those panic buying to make things easier for her, she told those listening to "stop being stupid" and put an end to the panic buying.
Read more: Drivers pack cars with jerry cans and £30 cap introduced as panic-buyers scramble for fuel
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LBC heard first-hand accounts from other emergency workers and how the panic-buying is affecting them.
Read more: HGV shortage: Govt 'created this crisis' through inaction, Angela Rayner says
Luke in Barking is a paramedic and told Matt that panic buyers clogging up British roads are delaying emergency services in responding to 999 calls.
"I was on blue lights trying to get to an incident and I’ve come around this corner and we couldn’t actually move anywhere so we sat for about 15 minutes on blue lights in the middle of the road."
"It’s honestly ridiculous" he told Matt.
The caller told LBC that panic-buyers are "causing shortages all around and the emergency services are struggling". He went on to reveal that such measures have delayed response times in his ambulance "by about 15 minutes."
Read more: Lord Adonis: 'Brexit red tape' responsible for HGV crisis
"Who do you blame for all this?" Matt wondered. The paramedic said that "we are our own worst enemies" when it comes to these situations, referencing similar panic buying during the pandemic.
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Scott works for the ambulance service and told Matt Frei that his "12 hour shift turned into 16 hours" because of delays on motorways caused by queues at service stations.
"We were getting stuck on so many a roads where queues of 60, 70 cars were going into petrol stations" he revealed.
The caller pointed out that he also suffered immense delays while on the clock due to panic-buying.
"One of my trips was a 14 mile round trip and it took us three hours – it’s not acceptable" he said.
