So who exactly predicted this as a result of a pandemic?
The problem is that everybody thinks that although they don't need to get more petrol at the moment, they fear that by the time they do, there would be none available because of panic buying. The panic buying is a result of the the fear of the result of others panic buying. Yet another self-fulfilling prophecy. People acting in a particular manner because of the fear of everybody else acting in that same manner.