THERE are two types of people who will read this: “Only tankers queue at garage forecourts!”

1. Those who agree that only tankers should ever queue at garage forecourts.

2. Those who are good with rhyming slang!

What a time to be alive, eh … 2020: The toilet roll panic buying is the most grim consumer behaviour trend you will ever witness

2021: Hold my beer … Or hold my petrol pump (if you can find one) – and that’s not a euphemism!!

But beyond a simple rant to everyone panic buying – WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE WEE MAN ARE YOU DOING?! – there is a serious side to all this.

It might not have affected us badly in Glasgow, yet!, but in other parts of the UK, especially outlying areas, all this petrol panic buying is achieving is a potentially serious knock-on effect by denying essential users access to fuel.

This could mean ambulances, police cars, fire engines, coastguard vehicles, doctors, home carers, vets, the list goes on – not being able to get the fuel they need to do their jobs – and this might in some areas affect taxi drivers too.

And if you don’t have sympathy for taxi drivers, then turn your mind to some of the people we serve every day, such as: The children with additional support needs who we take to and from school every day … The members of the elderly who we provide access to the shops they might otherwise struggle to get … The housebound or disabled who can’t leave their homes without us … The vulnerable whose only supermarket trip comes via a taxi … The national health service worker who doesn’t drive and works unsociable hours … Again, the list goes on.

So by all means top up your petrol at the rate you usually do. But firing in £60 worth when you only need a tenner’s fuel?

Don’t be a total tanker!

Cheers – and stay safe.