Gasoline crisis: Fuel shortages ‘worsen’ in London and the south-east, queues causing traffic jams outside stations Business News

The UK fuel crisis is “getting worse” in some areas, an industry boss has warned, as queues outside gas stations have caused traffic jams for the second weekend in a row.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, stressed that the situation remained “critical” in London and the south-east, despite claims by government ministers that the situation has stabilized.

Large queues and closed forecourts were reported across the capital on Saturday. Aerial footage of Honeypot Lane in north-west London showed dozens of cars lining up to enter a garage on the corner of a roundabout.

BBC reporter Lewis Goodall also tweeted that the lines in a south London area were “even longer” than the week before and caused “considerable congestion”.

Mr Madderson said that although there has been improvement in the north of England and Scotland, fuel shortages remain a “really big problem” in London and the South East. He added: “If anything, it got worse.”

Speaking to Sky News, he revealed that a survey conducted by his organization found that 16% of the more than 1,000 sites checked on Saturday had no fuel. This marked an improvement from the 27% reported as dry on Friday, but local bottlenecks remained.

“We need a prioritization of deliveries to service stations – especially the independent neighborhood retail locations – in London and the South East now,” he added.

Elsewhere, a gas station in Chelsea, central London, was charging nearly double the average price of fuel on Saturday morning shortly before selling out completely. The Cloisters Gulf service station on Sloane Avenue was selling fuel for £ 2.68 a liter, almost double the average price of £ 1.36.

Mr Madderson said rising global oil prices meant motorists should expect higher prices at the pump when gas stations are restocked. He added: “Expect an increase of 1, 2 or even 3 pence per liter at the pump. This is not profit. These are real wholesale price increases caused by global factors. “

Military drivers will be deployed to deliver fuel to the forecourt from Monday in order to fight the crisis. Nearly 200 military personnel, including 100 drivers, have been trained at transport sites and will begin deliveries to help alleviate the situation at gas stations.

Mr Maddison said using the military would be “of great help” but warned it would have “limited impact” in hard-hit areas. “It will not be the great panacea,” he added.

Although industry bosses warn the crisis is far from over, Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Saturday sought to reassure Britons that the situation was “stabilizing” in most parts of the country and that the The army is only deployed as a “precaution”.

“I think it’s fair that as a precaution the government asked for the military’s help,” he told Sky News. “I think this is the right step to take to make sure people have all the confidence they need.

“I think this will stabilize the situation further and give more confidence.”

The government on Friday announced a turnaround in its emergency visa regime, with 5,000 foreign food transport drivers able to extend their temporary visas beyond Christmas Eve.

Some 300 of the truck drivers will be encouraged to come to Britain immediately and allowed to stay until the end of March, after fears shortages could cause chaos during the holiday season.

Mr Javid conceded that there would be “competition for drivers” with other European countries, but he was “confident” that the program would attract more European drivers. He added: “In the short term I think it’s fair to try and see that we can get more pilots [from abroad]. I think it will work.

Labor has written Home Secretary Priti Patel asking him to clarify when the foreign drivers will arrive and how long they will be allowed to stay.

Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds reminded Ms Patel that already on August 5, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected her call for changes to the immigration point system to reflect the skills shortage for heavy goods vehicles, telling him, “I do not support the use of foreign labor to tackle a long-standing problem in the transportation industry.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has not ruled out the prospect of a Christmas supply disruption. In an interview with The temperature, he insisted that there would be no further increase in the 5,000 visas for truck drivers because ministers “cannot simply reach the lever marked” uncontrolled immigration “”.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the Daily mail there is a global disruption of supply chains in other industries, but admitted the shortages were “very real”.

“We are seeing real disruption in supply chains in different industries, not just here but around the world,” he told the newspaper. “We are determined to do what we can to try to mitigate this as much as possible.”