A Wiltshire paramedic has suggested that people fuelling up unnecessarily could be shot.
It comes after motorists rushed to service stations across the country to fill up with petrol and diesel following an announcement that BP and Esso had closed “a handful” of forecourts on Thursday (23 September).
The closures related to a lack of lorry drivers, rather than a lack of fuel. But people decided not to take the risk and flocked to the pumps.
Despite transport secretary Grant Shapps attempting to stop a panic buying crisis by telling confirming to the nation that there is no fuel shortage, people panicked anyway.
In a furious post on Twitter, the NHS paramedic – who works in west Wiltshire and east Somerset – suggested that anyone filling up their vehicles without reason could be shot.
‘Instead of getting the army in to drive the tankers to solve the panic buying, I have a better idea…’, he wrote.
Adding: ‘Anybody pulling into a petrol station with more than 1/4 tank of fuel gets shot? I can’t believe the idiots still out there queueing.’
He went on to ask the public not to whinge when an ambulance takes several hours to respond to an emergency call due to being unable to refuel.
‘Well, if I can’t get to work because I have no fuel in my car then don’t whinge when you call 999 and the ambulance takes 5 hours to get to you.’
‘Just think of the impact that your panic buying has on others… oh yeah, you don’t give a [angry swearing emoji].’
Yesterday (24 September), a woman was photographed filling up seven or eight jerrycans on a petrol station forecourt near Trowbridge, sparking outrage.
Norwich paramedic Jennifer Ward shared a post on Facebook describing how she was forced to drive around to five petrol stations in a bid to refuel her ambulance last night.
“Imagine having to go to 5 DIFFERENT petrol stations to get diesel for your AMBULANCE, do people forget we need to it to actually attend our emergency’s or?”, she wrote.
“We’re already struggling enough as a service without the added pressure of not knowing where our next stop for fuel will be. Be kind, be caring, be thoughtful”, she added.
