Friday, October 1st, 2021
Relaxation of the gasoline crisis?
Petrol station association contradicts government
According to the British government, the fuel crisis is “absolutely under control” again. The petrol station association cannot confirm that. More than a quarter of the petrol stations are still sitting on dry land. And that although supplies are being delivered.
Unlike the government, the British petrol station association PRA does not see any relaxation in the petrol crisis. The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) announced on Thursday that 27 percent of the petrol stations still had no fuel on offer. That was the same number as the day before, said association manager Gordon Balmer. Long queues continued to form at petrol stations, especially in London and southern England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, spoke of an easing of the situation.
Treasury Secretary Simon Clarke told Sky News that “more fuel is being delivered to gas stations than is being sold, so the crisis is now absolutely under control”.
Association boss Balmer, however, continued to report bottlenecks: Although his members told him that they were getting fuel deliveries, they were running out faster than usual due to the unprecedented demand. “It is important to remember that fuel supplies in the refineries and terminals are normal, but supplies have only been reduced because of the lack of truck drivers,” Balmer said.
In the coming days, soldiers are to be deployed to defuse the gasoline crisis. The government ordered the use of the military on Monday evening. Long queues have formed in front of British petrol stations since last week. The reason for the chaos are delivery problems – the country is short of tens of thousands of truck drivers as a result of Brexit and the corona pandemic. The government, on the other hand, primarily blames hamster purchases.