Officials said the move would make it easier for companies to share information and prioritise parts of the country most at need It follows days of long queues at the pumps, after fears of disruption to the fuel supply sparked panic buying Ministers also are considering deploying the military to deliver fuel The option is under discussion, and will be examined at a possible cabinet meeting on Monday.
The Petrol Retailers Association has warned that as many as two-thirds of its membership of nearly 5,500 independent outlets are out of fuel, with the remainder of them “partly dry and running out soon”. the united kingdom features a total of quite 8,000 filling stations Announcing the measure to exempt the refining industry from the Competition Act 1998, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the govt had “long-standing” contingency plans to take care of fuel supplies While there has always been and continues to be many fuel at refineries and terminals, we are aware that there are some issues with supply chains.
This is why we’ll enact the Downstream Oil Protocol to make sure industry can share vital information and work together more effectively to make sure disruption is minimised.We thank HGV drivers and every one forecourt staff for his or her tireless work during this era The government also relaxed competition law in March 2020, to assist supermarkets work together to take care of food supplies.
A shortage of lorry drivers has caused problems for a variety of industries in recent months, from supermarkets to nutriment chains In recent days, some fuel deliveries were affected, resulting in panic buying and lengthy queues at some petrol stations In a joint statement from companies including Shell, ExxonMobile and Greenergy, the industry reiterated that pressures on supply were being caused by “temporary spikes in customer demand – not a national shortage of fuel”.
PRA chairman Brian Madderson told the BBC the shortages were right down to “panic buying, pure and simple”, with oil companies prioritising keeping motorway station pumps topped up Pumps were mainly running dry in Britain’s urban areas, while Northern Ireland was currently unaffected, he said Mr Madderson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that filling stations were being restocked, but there have been not enough deliveries to revive their normal levels of fuel.
“One of our members yesterday received a tanker at midday and by late afternoon the whole tanker had disappeared into people’s cars,” he said On Saturday, the govt announced it might offer temporary visas, lasting until Christmas Eve , to 5,000 foreign fuel tanker and food lorry drivers and 5,500 poultry workers during a bid to limit disruption within the build up to Christmas Other measures include sending nearly a million letters to drivers who hold an HGV licence – to encourage them back to the industry – and plans to coach 4,000 people to become HGV drivers.
Elizabeth de Jong, director of policy for Logistics UK, told Today that it might be “days, possibly a few of weeks” before the visa applications were open She said the industry had wanted more visas to be available and for a extended time, but she said the key issue now was to form them attractive to drivers, which was likely to mean offering good wages The UK had lost 72,000 drivers between the second quarter of 2019 and therefore the same period in 2021, Ms de Jong said – partly thanks to people returning to the EU after Brexit.
At an equivalent time, she said Covid-19 had disrupted testing for HGV licences, making it harder to exchange the lost drivers The shortage of drivers and other workers is additionally causing concern within the food and retail industry The British Retail Consortium said the amount of visas being offered was “too small” to form an impression on the disruption expected at Christmas Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability policy at the trade association, told the BBC: “I think we’re getting to see less choice, less availability, possibly a shorter time period also , which is basically disappointing because this might are averted.”
Meanwhile, turkey farmer Kate Martin warned supermarkets could run out of poultry before ChristmasShe said there have been fewer turkeys being produced because because the large processors “know they’re going to not get them processed Recruitment for extra short-term HGV drivers and poultry workers will begin in October, with the visas valid until Christmas Eve .