KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Historic vehicle hobby shows resilience in face of panic fuel buying
English classic car shows, runs and tours have all carried on with minimal issues, despite fewer petrol deliveries at forecourts. Panic fuel buying caused concern among enthusiasts worried about the availability of low ethanol ‘protection’ grade E5; a shortage of lorry drivers to deliver petrol to BP and Texaco stations meant that there was less fuel available in station ground tanks. Steph Holloway of YouTube channel idriveaclassic, recently had to compromise when stocks of E5 ran low in her local area. She said: ‘I had no choice but to purchase half a tank of E10 fuel simply to keep myself mobile, which is a choice that many classic drivers will not make. The official advice on using E10 in a classic is to use it sparingly where E5 is not available so I had to make an exception to my usual rule of exclusively using E5.’ The Federation of British Historic Vehicles Club’s communications director, Wayne Scott, said: ‘People should not panic buy and use only the fuel they need, buying only when they need it but to continue to use their historic vehicles as normal, there are plenty of shows and events still to go and support!’ Show organisers felt the knockon effect in varying degrees across the country. Mark Woodward Classic Events owner and operator, Mark Woodward, noticed a drop in trade at a recent show. He said: ‘ We ran our big Newbury Spares day on the 3rd, but the fuel shortage, especially in southern England, unfortunately affected our attendance with a reduced turnout of stalls and visitors. But traders reported good takings, which
signals that determined buyers did visit.’ Social media feeds for the 26 September OhSoRetro show in Kent spoke of difficulties getting fuel to attend. Organiser, Lee Collier, said that fuel shortages cost the show ‘2-300 cars in all honesty, but it still sold out.’ The annual Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run, held on 1-3 October, had drivers relaying fuel availability to each other in real time via its Facebook group to avoid problems. Chairman, Tim Hunt, said that 113 cars from 176 entries started owing to fuel concerns, but no-one who retired from the event ran out of petrol. At time of writing, the Run had raised more than £79,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. However, Classic car hire firm, Great Driving Days, had to curtail some of its rental operations when panic buying was at its peak last month and earlier this month. Director, Graham Eason, explained: ‘Although we re-fuelled our cars just before the crisis, it only gave us fuel for up to three days. We are fully booked at the moment. So far we have had to cancel ten days of experiences, which disrupted many people. Most were understanding, some not. Some will re-arrange, some won’t, so we have lost money. ‘Most petrol stations near us now have fuel but it is rationed and continuously runs out. This situation comes on top of the poorly communicated switch to E10, which has limited our access to fuel and pushed up our costs.’