Inside lane of one of the UK\u2019s busiest roads is full of frustrated motorists waiting for a turn at the pump <\/p>\n
Last modified on Sun 26 Sep 2021 12.39 EDT<\/p>\n
A kilometre of one of the UK\u2019s most congested roads was on Sunday taking on a new, unwanted role: the queue for a BP garage still managing to sell petrol.<\/p>\n
Julian Dunbar estimated he\u2019d waited an hour and a half on the inside lane of the A406 North Circular in South Chingford, east London, to finally be able to fill up. \u201cThe petrol light is on, I\u2019m almost empty,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating because not everyone here needs to fill up. We\u2019re here because we need to for the week, not because we are panic-buying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dunbar, who works in property management, was with his young daughter, and it was probably not the most fun of Sundays. \u201cWe\u2019ve just been to the supermarket to do the weekly shop and of course there\u2019s no pasta. Are we going back to how it was at the start of the pandemic? If everyone just had a bit of social responsibility for themselves then this wouldn\u2019t be an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most people the Guardian talked to didn\u2019t quite know who to blame. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it is the supply chain not being managed properly? Brexit? I get annoyed,\u201d said Dunbar. \u201cWe are a very wealthy nation, we shouldn\u2019t be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BP garage was one of the few locally that were still open. Nearby garages at Sainsbury\u2019s, Tesco and Morrison\u2019s were all closed to petrol buyers.<\/p>\n
The queue, causing slow-moving traffic in the other lanes for as far as the eye could see, was bringing out the worst in some drivers. \u201cThere has been some terrible behaviour,\u201d said Heena Patel, a cost manager who had waited for an hour. \u201cThere are quite a few people trying to push in and using the excuse that they want to go to Costco \u2026 but they\u2019re not. It\u2019s selfish.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was relieved she finally had some petrol in the car. \u201cI was actually empty, I\u2019m not panic-buying. I need to get petrol because I\u2019ve got to take my dad who\u2019s 82 to the hospital during the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gjenarin Shkambi, a builder from Romford, had potentially lost work because of his hour queueing. He had been on his way to price a job but was now heading home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need petrol because I\u2019ve got to drive 200 miles tomorrow for a job,\u201d he said. \u201cI need to go to work. I get annoyed but what can you do? You\u2019ve got to get on with it. It is a nightmare. I can\u2019t price the job tomorrow because it\u2019s the opposite direction to where I\u2019m working, it\u2019s a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ash Iko, a financial adviser, was sanguine. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating but there\u2019s no choice. I was just driving by and saw the queue so I thought I should get some petrol. It is worrying. Nobody said this was going to happen. I do drive a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most people in the queue took the waiting in their stride. Aside from pushing in, the worst behaviour seen by the Guardian was two drivers reversing into the garage using its exit road.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere there were reports of violence, with a number of clips of forecourt fights doing the rounds on social media.<\/p>\n
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, tweeted his experience on Saturday afternoon. \u201cI\u2019m now officially in post-Brexit wild west. No HGV drivers, no petrol: queued most of the morning for petrol. Got near the front and they said none left. Man behind me was furious and started punching the guard. Became a melee of 8-10 men on the ground, punching and kicking.\u201d<\/p>\n