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UK fuel crisis ‘could go on for further week’ despite military help

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The UK fuel crisis could run another week, fuel retailers have warned, as military tanker drivers took to the roads to relieve pressure on petrol stations.

While the shortage is almost over in regions including Scotland, northern England and the Midlands, where only 6% of forecourts were dry on Monday, the executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, Gordon Balmer, said 22% of fuel stations in London and south-east England were still struggling to restock.

Balmer said the continued shortages in the south-east were because of the higher population and lower number of fuel stations per head. He said it could take up to 10 days for local forecourts to restock, even with the help of the armed forces, who have been deployed to deliver fuel amid a national shortage of HGV drivers.

“That’s being worked on right now, as we said, with military drivers, so we hope the situation will improve during the week,” Balmer told Sky News. “We’ll continue to monitor it but it might take a week to 10 days to really get members’ sites to build their stocks back up to normal levels.”

Almost 200 military personnel, including 100 drivers, began to be deployed from Monday, after being trained at haulier sites across the country over the past week. They will be used to ship fuel to forecourts that are still struggling to meet demand or are dry after the increase in buying.

Balmer said many of his members had been out of fuel since the panic buying began, including BP forecourts. “Some of our members tell us they have been without fuel for a number of days – some over a week now,” he said. “One of the situations seems to be worse with BP but we do know that they are rectifying that.”

He added that extending visas for foreign HGV drivers until March would also help, as would improving terms and conditions to attract new recruits and unblocking the backlog of driver applications and return to work applications at the DVLA.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said the fuel situation for drivers was “improving”, adding that the armed forces drivers would help address problems in some areas.

He told LBC radio: “The situation has been improving now for, I think, over a week; every day, as the stats have come on, it’s getting better and, as demand settles back to more normal levels, the strong expectation is things will resolve themselves.”

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Downing Street said fuel stocks had continued to improve over the weekend, with “more fuel being delivered than is being used”. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “That’s been a sustained picture for a number of days now.”

The spokesperson added that officials “fully appreciate” the continued challenges, particularly in London and the south-east, “and how frustrating that must be … That’s why we’re doing everything possible, including using armed forces personnel, to bolster getting in more supply.”

The spokesperson said the initial request for assistance from the armed forces would last for 31 days but that the government would stay engaged with the industry regarding the next steps.

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