Fuel pumps ran dry in parts of Britain on Monday as panic-buying drained tanks at filling stations, while the government tries to tackle a shortage of lorry drivers with a dramatic post-Brexit immigration policy U-turn.
A queue 50 cars-long was seen at one petrol station in east London, with some drivers having waited since before dawn to fill up their vehicles, an AFP photographer said.
Other stations across the British capital and southeast England simply posted signs stating that “no fuel” was available and apologised for pumps being out of use.
The Petrol Retailers Association claimed that almost half of the UK’s 8,000 fuel pumps had run out of petrol on Sunday, as desperate drivers — including key workers — formed long queues to fill up.
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan said public transport and emergency services had stocks in reserve but hospital and care workers, as well as taxi drivers, were struggling to find fuel to go to work.
The government maintains it has enough fuel in stock but not enough lorry drivers to deliver it, with critics blaming an exodus of truckers from Europe after Brexit.
Ministers, though, insist the situation mirrors driver shortages across the EU, which have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, leaving some supermarket shelves empty and raising fears about deliveries for Christmas.
PRA chairman Brian Madderson told the BBC that shortages were down to “panic buying, pure and simple”, as the government triggered emergency measures.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he had suspended oil industry competition laws to ensure suppliers “can share vital information and work together more effectively to ensure disruption is minimised”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering whether to call upon soldiers to deliver fuel to petrol stations across the country, according to newspaper reports.
Environment Secretary George Eustice confirmed that the government is using Ministry of Defence personnel to help train new lorry drivers.
But he insisted there were “no plans at the moment” to draft in troops to drive petrol tankers, and is instead banking on a new short-term visa waiver scheme to entice foreign truckers.—AFP
