Petrol crisis was the Government’s fault

Last week’s disgusting scenes at petrol stations throughout the land saw this once great country reduced to little more then third world level. Fighting on forecourts, with the police at full stretch to maintain law and order amongst queuing motorists, with drivers filling up with scant regard to anyone else. It was shambolic chaos, and inevitably some garages hiked up prices in order to fleece the public.

What has this country come to?

The fault lay entirely at the seat of Government, where leading minister Francis Maude came on TV and advised the nation’s car owners to fill up as many jerry cans as possible and hoard them in the garage, to allay any difficulty emerging from a possible tanker drivers’ strike. Not only is this illegal, but it can also invalidate some insurance policies where cars are kept in the garage. This unnecessary advice from a government minister served to trigger off virtual anarchy, alarm, chaos, and even distress amongst the public, both on the roads and on petrol station forecourts. Surely Francis Maude should have been sacked by now – what is the matter with Cameron? He can’t blame this one on the legacy inherited from the last government, as bad as they were, so how about it? The chronic mistake made by Francis Maude in uttering his statement deserves one thing - dismissal. What with last week’s granny-tax, the hot Cornish pasty farce, the petrol fiasco and whatever else, it was extremely difficult to recognise a genuine April Fool’s Day joke last Sunday.

So what else can we now expect? - Mick Cole, The Square, Kenilworth.