I think it would have looked like exploitation, and nobody wants to look like they are doing that 
Peter wrote:
There never was a petrol shortage. There never was a shortage of truck drivers. It was 100% media orchestrated panic.
Looking at the rise in petrol prices over here in Germany I wonder, why they haven’t regarded the old rule of supply and demand in GB? If supply’s short, then raise the price. On 4 pounds per litre or more there surely would have been a shortage of people wanting to refuel. Problem solved and media would have been bashing petrol companies, rather than government
Just a funny observation. I last filled up my car the day before this started, and I am down to 1/3 of the tank now. Time to fill up again.
The whole “petrol shortage” was 100% pure panic buying. When it ended, the garage forecourts were near-empty for a few days, as the “always drive with an almost empty tank” crowd converted their fuel stock into cash which could be much more usefully spent on booze, fags, and dirty mags 
Well, not quite over yet in London, and for some reason the government drafted in 200 extra drivers from the army :-)
And perhaps there actually was a petrol shortage
As ever, I think a lot of things were happening at the same time.
Well, the “petrol shortage” is over.
There never was a petrol shortage. There never was a shortage of truck drivers. It was 100% media orchestrated panic.
In the past week, petrol stations have been catching up, with many having diesel sold out, or petrol sold out, but no queues. No more truck drivers either. Clearly people just got bored with panicking.
Hmm. Shortage of butchers is Brexit stuff, shortage of truck drivers is not. Good to know
Graham wrote:
it was only little cuts, like 0.02 per litre
That’s not a cut. Here it was about NOK 15 per liter usually, then suddenly it became 10-11, even below 10 at times. Maybe they still do it, but after I got my first electric car I stopped bother completely because I fill up my other car so seldom, perhaps only once every 3 months.
[ brexit stuff deleted ]
That’s absolutely hilarious
No queue at all today near where I work. So it looks like it took 10 days to calm down.
This video was posted elsewhere… while it was taken in the US, it does demonstrate to what level of life threathening stupidity people can descend to.
Only a question of time before someone will blow themselves to kingdom come over this gas craze.
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
if anyone here is really an expert on the matter and can actually help with getting the situation sorted with HMRc
There are no ‘experts who can sort it’ in the manner you want, not here nor anywhere.
The email reply you shared makes HMRC’s position pretty clear. You can either get your UK agent to sort himself out and receive it on your behalf, or you can wait for their security processes for making payments abroad. I have never appointed an agent to deal with HMRC on my behalf, but I’m pretty sure it’s (a little bit) more formalised than just sending them someone’s bank details, especially if you already have an agent appointed. You don’t seriously think they are going to wire half a million quid to a friend’s bank account that you just sent them details of (in an email?)
This is just bureaucracy. It’s the same the world over and is nothing to do with Brexit nor the UK reneging on international obligations. I’m sure it would be equally difficult to get the French tax authorities to wire half a million Euros out of the country.
I’ll repeat my oft-made point about international law. People who claim that “XYZ is in breach of international law” ought to do a bit of reading about what ‘international law’ actually is. It’s nothing more than the norms, conventions and (sometimes) agreements between nations and is highly subjective. There’s no big book of statute, no courts that enforce it, nor punishments meted out. In the real world, nations sometimes don’t do things the way others (perhaps the other party to a treaty) thinks they ought to, and if the issue is significant enough then diplomatic pressure is brought to bear.
