Hi Dave, at least I can say that it was the only time that I ever had a “legal” Dodgy, if ever there was such a thing. 
i was a traffic operator at ferrymasters desborough at the time and i well remember having vehicles at corley servs being told they could have only 5 gls each , not enough to get a fully loaded F86 very far, especially when we had none at desborough either
I had forgotten all about that Tony. Talking to other drivers saying that they had queued for ages and were only allowed five gallons. Which has just reminded me, I remember applying for fuel coupons for my car and getting back a little book of tickets which I kept for years. I don’t think that the fuel rationing ever came into force but the fuel price did jump up over a couple of weeks period.
Regards Steve.
mushroomman:
I had forgotten all about that Tony.Regards Steve.
Exactly. We were issued with coupons for a fuel rationing scheme that never came to fruition. Like you, I kept my ration book with my old driving licences. I’ve just looked and I still have mine 
. This one was for my 1954 Morris Minor. 
So here are the pictures! Robert
and the imposed 50mph speed limit, everywhere motorways included, i got done going to desborough in dads rover 3500 , 63 mph on an a road , overtaking a tractor/trailer combo that had been crawling along at the obligatory 18mph.
Hello All. At the time of the fuel shortages I was driving a diesel Transit for Baxter laboratories, Thetford (Travenol).Coming down the M6 My next drop was the children’s hospital in Coventry but the “Lady” on the pumps at Corley wouldn’t serve me because the MINIMUM quantity on your card was 25 gallons (If I remember correctly). No ammount of pleading about the hospitals running out would change the battle-axes mind, but I found a sympathetic garage owner in Coventry. Later our boss, Martin Podmore got us all a letter from the home office with a phone number to guarantee getting served.
At the same time there were numerous electrical stoppages nation-wide. A garage up in the Brecons were driving their pumps with a Minivan off one of the front wheels with a belt. Must have made a fortune. Jim.
At the time of fuel rationing I worked for Mothers Pride Bakeries and because we were designated as an essential industry we were exempt from rationing, and could order as much fuel for our own bulk storage tanks as we wanted. Also, as an “essential employee” on call 24/7 I was allocated extra petrol coupons.
At the time of the fuel shortage we were sending about 5 wagons a day (out of 20 plus) into the A1M services at Birtley ( about two miles from the yard) to fill up, giving the drivers cash to pay. We had fuel in our own storage tanks but thought it prudent to preserve as much as possible, because, as we all know the situation was very fluid.
This went on for a few days and then we didn’t use the services for a couple of days. Within 24 hours the services manager was on the phone to say they had plenty of fuel and we could fill up as many as we wanted to. Tyneside
I was courting my missus in 1974/75 and doing a 320 mile round trip each weekend between Reading and Matlock Bath! I could only really rely on getting fuel at Motorway services and carried a couple of cans full in the boot of my series six Morris Oxford which I filled at the garage I worked at.
Pete.
I was working in the office of a fuel company during the shortages. I remember the drivers going out with 2-3 deliveries on the one vehicle. Hospitals,councils, crematoriums etc got priority. Petrol stations only got what was allocated to them once they ran out they had wait until they were allocated more. I am still on the fuel tankers to this day and at the ripe old age of 61 hope to retire next year. I used to love going to my work as a young enthusiastic 21 year old and to be sent out on a AEC mandator or mammoth major with no power steering.(I snapped a steering wheel in a mandator reversing into a garage) I am trying to get some more photos from the 70 80s to post on here so when I get them I will post them.
windrush:
I was courting my missus in 1974/75 and doing a 320 mile round trip each weekend between Reading and Matlock Bath! I could only really rely on getting fuel at Motorway services and carried a couple of cans full in the boot of my series six Morris Oxford which I filled at the garage I worked at.Pete.
by heck you must have been keen on her to travel that far to see her . i tried that long distance romance a time or two but ended up marrying a lass from the next street .
Just not long after the fuel shortages etc the company I worked for sold out to another oil company, I went to work for said company but traveling time was uneconomical to me so I took redundancy. I went out with a mate to learn roping and sheeting. Now I didn’t know anything about general haulage I was willing to learn. I came home with a 15 ft rope and tied this round the door handle in my house and practised tying various knots. The next morning I got a call from a company based in the village I live in. The company was Kelman of Airth. I picked up a unit (Foden) picked up a load of tobacco for Newcastle and then pick up a load of bricks at Birtley. My roping and sheeting left a lot to be desired but I managed to last the week and the following week went back to fuel tankers. The foden I used had the massive headlights square cab and was a pile of crap. My one and only venture into general haulage. To the guys that do it daily I salute you .
I’ll tell you what, it was a pain in England but trying to get right across Europe being given 20 liters here and 30 there was just awful. But on the plus side the Germans suddenly lost interest in their Tankschien. They didnt give a ■■■■ how much you brought in!
It is difficult to believe that our Country was got into such a terrible state. I remember at the same time paying 17% interest on my mortgage too.
David
windrush:
I was courting my missus in 1974/75 and doing a 320 mile round trip each weekend between Reading and Matlock Bath! I could only really rely on getting fuel at Motorway services and carried a couple of cans full in the boot of my series six Morris Oxford which I filled at the garage I worked at.Pete.
All together now…“Aaaah, true love”.
Only joking Pete. 
David Miller:
I’ll tell you what, it was a pain in England but trying to get right across Europe being given 20 liters here and 30 there was just awful. But on the plus side the Germans suddenly lost interest in their Tankschien. They didnt give a ■■■■ how much you brought in!
It is difficult to believe that our Country was got into such a terrible state. I remember at the same time paying 17% interest on my mortgage too.David
Hi David, I remember that in 1975 you were only allowed to take £25 cash out of the U.K. the rest had to be in travellers cheques. So I wondered if you lads doing overland at the time were able to change the travellers cheques back into cash once you got on the boat at Dover or did you have to call at the bank at most of the borders.
Regards Steve.
Morning Steve.
Yes they did give us Travellers Cheques sometimes but the problem was changing them in the East Block or anywhere in Arabia so generally it was cash as few companies on that work had Fuel Cards. In fact I never saw a dieselcard till I joined Grangewood which was the last company I worked for on Middle East.
So cash it was and as you say there were periods when the export of cash was prohibited. HMC&E did their best searching us but a truck cab has lots of places to hide Bank Notes. Nowadays I watch that Police Interceptors and am surprised how dumb and un-imaginative are the youths they catch who try to conceal drugs. They were happy days indeed.
David
Thanks for that Dave, I should imagine that trying to fill up a belly tank in Romania with a travellers cheque would of caused a few problems.
How many lads can remember buying a Continental Quilt off the back of a lorry.
I remember calling into Knutsford Services northbound one Friday afternoon on my way home and a Geordie lorry driver called me over asking me if I wanted a Continental quilt for a fiver. I searched through my pockets and told him that all I had was about three quid and a parking ticket for one pound fifty from Birmingham. He said O.K. give us that then, I gave him the three quid and he said “don’t forget the parking ticket as well”. 
You could take out more cash if you signed a declaration for HM GOV
I signed loads of them
Probably so but whats the fun in doing it straight?
David
when i worked for Frank White, our running money was paid in traveller’s cheques and as previously stated was a total pain in the arse. It was not unusual for some drivers to cash them in at the bank in Dover docks for sterling notes whereby they did not lose on commission. On one occasion one of the drivers was stopped by customs whilst he was returning to the export compound. when they found that he was carrying so much cash, they made him return to the bank and change the cash back into travellers cheques, which cost him two and a half percent of his running money. It was a painful lesson.