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Moment mum slams petrol panic buyers after being left ‘stranded’ with one-year-old son
A MUM has slammed panic-buyers hoarding fuel after she was left "stranded" in her car with her one-year-old son.
Rachel Wallace, from Cardiff, shared an emotional video to Facebook amid the ongoing chaos at petrol pumps across the UK.
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After driving to several petrol stations in a fruitless attempt to fill up, an exasperated Ms Wallace was forced to park her car as the tank had run completely empty.
Filming a video from inside her car, Ms Wallace said: "People are panic-buying petrol that they don't need... what they've done today is basically left myself and my one-year-old son with absolutely no petrol.
"We just went out to get some, we've been to four petrol stations... and now the petrol [in my car] has completely gone."
Ms Wallace, who is five months' pregnant, burst into tears as she explained her frustration at the fuel crisis.
She said she managed to park her car in a timed spot but was unable to start it again as it was so low on petrol.
"Problem number one is that the car park has an hour-and-a-half timer and obviously I'm not going to get petrol in the next hour-and-a-half, so the car is going to end up getting fines on it," she said.
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"God forbid I might get towed, I don't know."
With no buggy in the car, Ms Wallace said she would have to carry her baby son and walk home.
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"The mind boggles to be honest, that people have made sure that their cars are completely full to the brim in case they run out of petrol where there's people like me who can't get any petrol and are basically stranded," she said.
"All I can say is I hope that you petrol panic-buyers are happy that you've left many people stranded, people with little babies, and ambulances with no petrol.
"I've got a hospital appointment in two days' time, how I'm going to get to that is a bit of mystery.
"I wouldn't normally make a video like this, but the fact that people are lacking humanity that they've done this, it's ridiculous."
Ms Wallace captioned the video: "Big thanks to all those selfish people who have panic bought fuel and didn’t need it in their cars. Leaving a pregnant woman and her one year old son stranded."
She later commented on the video saying she was forced to get a friend to tow her car home.
It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted the petrol crisis was “stabilising” — but warned wider supply disruption could last beyond Christmas.
The PM begged Brits to calm down and “go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way, when you really need it”.
He said: “We want to make sure that we have all the preparations necessary to get through ’til Christmas and beyond, not just in the petrol stations, but all parts of the supply chain.”
He blamed the sluggish global economic bounce back from the pandemic for sucking in a “huge amount of demand” for gas and deliveries.
But he ruled out letting key workers skip the queues, suggesting instead “the best thing for everybody is that we stabilise it in the normal way”.
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Government insiders say it would be impossible to police the pumps for key workers.
Mr Johnson also warned throwing open Britain’s borders to low-paid workers was not how the public would want him to fix the crisis.
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