London, Sept 27 (BNA): Lines of cars formed at some British gas stations for a fourth day on Monday, as the government considered sending the army to help ease supply disruptions caused by a shortage of truck drivers.
Brian Maderson, president of the Gasoline Retailers Association, said training was “in the background” for military personnel to command the tankers, though the government said it had “no plans at the moment” to deploy the troops, The Associated Press reports.
The association, which represents nearly 5,500 independent outlets, said Sunday that about two-thirds of its members reported running out of fuel, as a shortage of drivers led to a round of gasoline buying.
Roland McKibbin, a self-employed electrician in London, said he had to cut jobs because he could not get gas.
“I rely on fuel to travel to jobs, and no fuel doesn’t mean I can’t drive, which means I can’t get to jobs with my tools,” he said. “So basically, panic buying idiots lost my income, and took food right off the table for my wife and 5-year-old son, because unfortunately I can’t isolate people’s homes from home.”
The transport industry says the UK has as many as 100,000 truck drivers, due to a perfect storm of factors including the coronavirus pandemic, an aging workforce and an exodus of foreign workers after Britain left the European Union last year. Post-Brexit immigration rules mean that EU citizens can no longer live and work visa-free in Britain, as they did when the UK was a member of the bloc.
Many countries, including the United States and Germany, have a shortage of truck drivers. But the problem was particularly pronounced in Britain, where it helped empty supermarket shelves and shut down gas pumps.
The government has blamed gasoline supply problems on panic buying, urging people not to hoard fuel.
“The only reason we don’t have gasoline in the front pitches is because people are buying gasoline they don’t need,” said Environment Minister George Eustice.
The government has announced that it will temporarily suspend competition laws so that fuel companies can share information and target areas of low supply.
It also brings in military driving examiners to help end the backlog of new truck drivers waiting for exams.
“We have no plans at the moment to get the military in to actually do the driving,” Eustis said.
“But we always have a civil emergency department within the army on standby,” he added.
After weeks of mounting pressure from shortages, the UK’s Conservative government announced on Saturday that it will issue thousands of emergency visas to foreign truck drivers to help prevent a Christmas without turkey or toys for many British families. The government said it would issue 5,000 three-month visas to truck drivers starting in October, and another 5,500 to poultry workers.
But this is much less than the required number. Robbie MacGregor-Smith, president of the Confederation of British Industry, said the announcement was “the equivalent of throwing a thimble of water over a fire”.
Representatives of European truck drivers were skeptical that many would want to come to the UK for such a short time. The visas are due to expire on December 24.
Edwin Atema of the Dutch FNV federation, which represents drivers across Europe, said the visa scheme was a “dead end”.
He told the BBC: “I think the EU workers we have spoken to are not going to the UK for a short-term visa to help the UK out of (the mess) they have created themselves.”
FKN