Military personnel began deploying to the UK on Monday to supply petrol stations overrun by motorists, and to try to resolve petrol shortages. After having been trained to drive heavy goods vehicles and fill gasoline pumps, around 200 soldiers – half of whom are drivers – are to be deployed as part of this operation called “Escalin”. They will initially be sent to London and the South East, where the problems are concentrated.
Even though Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the situation is “calming down”, 22% of gas stations in London and the south-east of England have no fuel, the executive director said on Monday. from the Petrol Retailers Association, Gordon Balmer. Of around 1,100 service stations he was in contact with on Sunday, some had run out of fuel for more than a week.
Consequence of Brexit
“We are working closely with industry to help increase fuel inventories and there are signs of improvement in service station inventories across the UK as demand continues to stabilize,” said said a government spokesperson. However, stocks are rebuilding more slowly in London and in the south of England, hence this targeted deployment of soldiers. It could take at least 10 days to get back to normal.
For ten days, long queues have formed in front of service stations, faced with supply problems due to a lack of truck drivers (100,000 according to professionals). They were marked in certain places by altercations between motorists at the end of their tether. This exceptional situation is the latest consequence of the labor shortages caused by the pandemic and Brexit, with delivery problems also affecting supermarket shelves, fast food chains and even pubs.