Brit stuck in two-hour queue for supermarket due to petrol chaos

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Petrol stations have run out of fuel across the UK since September 24. In a desperate bid to ease the problem, Boris Johnson issued 300 temporary work visas but less than half of them have been taken up by EU drivers.

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Edwin Atema, head of research and enforcement at the Netherlands-based FNV trade union, told the BBC that EU drivers were unlikely to flock to Britain given the poor driver conditions on offer.

She said: “The EU workers we speak to will not go to the UK for a short-term visa to help UK out of the shit they created themselves.”

Now, over 150 British soldiers have been called in by the Prime Minister to drive HGV’s delivering fuel to petrol stations.

The Petrol Retailers Association welcomed the help and noticed a “marked improvement” across the 5,500 independent filling stations it represents.

However, the association predicts it will take an estimated 10 days for national stock levels to get back to normal.

In the meantime, many petrol stations have put a cap on the number of petrol drivers can purchase in an attempt to curb “greedy” panic buying.

When news spread of a fuel shortage people flocked to petrol stations to buy as much gas as they could, filling up extra cartons, often leaving others without any.

Ambulances and other emergency service vehicles reported difficulty in finding a petrol station that had not run out of fuel.

Many Express readers felt that the media should be held accountable for “scaremongering” by reporting on the issue, which encouraged people to go out and fill up their tanks.

One Briton commented: “The media is to blame for scaremongering, so everybody went out to buy fuel all at once, that is what caused the shortage. The same happened with the toilet rolls and food during the first lockdown” (username sayitloud).

Express.co.uk asked its audience whether they think a national cap should be put on all petrol stations.

Of the 2,474 voters who took part, 81 percent said there should be a cap.

When asked how much that cap should be, 11 percent of voters said £40, 48 percent said £30, and 17 percent said £20.

Many journalists and politicians have pinned the blame for the fuel crisis on Brexit, but the British government have firmly stated that the problem is not a consequence of Brexit and supply shortages are actually a problem that is being felt world-wide.

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In his speech at the Conservative conference on Monday, Rishi Sunak said: “Right now we are facing challenges to supply chains, not just here but right around the world, and we are determined to tackle them head on, which can bring jobs, wealth, and transform lives.”

An Express reader, Prof David Younge, said: “This is all a Left-wing plot to try to blame Brexit when the problem is down to the directors of lorry firms not wanting to pay hirer wages, because for years they have had EU workers working for very low wages!

“Now the truth is out! Firms have to start paying real wages to UK workers.”

The Facebook group Professional Drivers Protest Group, United Kingdom planned a strike in August which called for an end to “low wages, long hours, general disrespect and disregard to needs of drivers, including being denied access to toilet facilities, no family or social life, more and more rules and expectations, increased responsibility and finally—massive exploitation.”

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A shortage of lorry drivers is not just affecting Britons’ gas tanks but their fridge stock too, as supermarket have not been receiving deliveries of food supplies.

Managing Director of Iceland, Richard Walker, said: “I don’t want to scaremonger and there is no need to panic buy but that said availability has never really been so bad.

“It’s getting worse and you can see that when you go into the shops.”

But the Government has assured the British public that, with Christmas fast approaching, the supply shortage crisis will be resolved as quickly as possible.

A spokesperson for Number 10 said: “We are working closely with industry to help increase fuel stocks and there are signs of improvement in average forecourt stocks across the UK with demand continuing to stabilise.”

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