British army delivering fuel across country, as petrol shortage increases

The army began delivering fuel to service stations in Britain on Monday in an effort to stem a shortage of more than a week, forcing pumps to close and leaving motorists without fuel. Military tankers have been training over the weekend to deliver fuel across the country starting Monday. The British government said in a statement on Friday that nearly 100 tankers had been deployed this week to "further ease the pressure on petrol stations and address the shortage of HGV [Heavy Goods Vehicle] drivers." The intervention is one of a series of emergency measures announced by the government to address the fuel crisis. It also issues temporary work visas to 5,000 foreign truck drivers and suspends competition law for suppliers allowing fuel to be delivered to rival operators. Over the weekend, it extended the validity of 300 emergency visas for fuel drivers from December 24 December to March 31 March A further 4,700 truck drivers can stay until February 28 February. The crisis is now entering its second week. It started when BP (BP) was forced to close some of its service stations in early September for the second time in as many months due to a shortage of tanker drivers exacerbated by the pandemic and Brexit. The closure of the stations triggered a panic of panic attacks in British motorists, who exhausted deliveries almost as quickly as they were refilled. The British Medical Association warned last week that health officials, including ambulance drivers, could not do their job because pumps were running dry. The situation has improved in some parts of the country but remains "critical" in London and the southeast of the country, where many service stations are dry, according to the Petrol Retailers Association. President Brian Madderson said in a statement on Saturday that a survey of 1,000 independent gas stations showed that just over two-thirds had two degrees of fuel available. Some 16% were still dry, while 16% had only one degree of fuel. Post-Brexit immigration rules There has been a shortage of truck drivers in the UK for years, but it was recently exacerbated by the pandemic, which delayed the issuance of new licenses, and Brexit, which led to tens of thousands of EU citizens leaving trucking jobs and other professions in the UK. According to the Road Haulage Association, the country is short of around 100,000 truck drivers, a situation that also affects the delivery of food to supermarkets. On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged high immigration levels ahead of Brexit for the situation the country is now facing.

British army delivering fuel across country, as petrol shortage increases

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