Petrol crisis: Fuel shortages ‘getting worse’ in London and Southeast
The fuel crisis is deteriorating in some areas in the United Kingdom as queues outside petrol stations caused gridlocked traffic for the second weekend in a row.
The situation remains "critical" in London and the southeast in spite of government ministers’ claims that the situation has stabilized, said Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association.
According to reports, there were large queues and closed forecourts across London on Saturday, with aerial footage from Honeypot Lane in northwest London showing cars lining up to enter a garage on the corner of a roundabout.
Queues in one area of south London were "even longer" than the previous week, BBC journalist Lewis Goodall tweeted, adding the lines were causing "considerable congestion".
Despite an improvement in the north of England and Scotland, Madderson said fuel shortages remain a "really big problem" in London and the southeast. He added, "If anything, it had got worse".
Sixteen percent of over 1,000 sites checked on Saturday had no fuel, Madderson said citing a survey carried out by his organization.
"We need a prioritization of deliveries to filling stations – particularly the independent ones which are the neighborhood retail sites – in London and the southeast starting immediately," he told Sky News.
Gas stations across the country have run dry as their ability to transport fuel from refineries was hit by an industry-wide shortage of truck drivers.
The driver shortage has also caused widespread disruption to Britain’s vital supply chains, namely the food sector.
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not rule out issuing more temporary visas in a bid to help ease the tanker driver shortage.
"What we have now is a system that allows us to control immigration, and that gives us flexibility. We can open up our markets if we need to, and of course we'll keep everything under review," Johnson told reporters during a visit to a hospital.
Last week, Britain said it would issue temporary visas for 5,000 foreign truck drivers and 5,500 poultry workers. According to the government, 200 military tanker personnel will help deliver fuel from Monday.
"What we don't want to do is go back to a situation in which we basically allowed the road haulage industry to be sustained with a lot of low wage immigration," Johnson said.
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