Around 200 military tanker personnel will be deployed from Monday to provide temporary support to address long queues at petrol stations across the UK due to supply shortages, the government announced on Saturday. The shortfall has been due to a severe shortage of truck drivers, especially heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers who are required to supply fuel.
The government said military personnel are currently undergoing their training at hauler sites across the country and fuel supplies will be on the road from Monday. UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said more than 200 military personnel had been mobilized as part of Operation Escaline over the weekend.
While the situation is stabilizing, our armed forces are there to fill any critical vacancies and help the country move forward by supporting the industry to deliver fuel to the forecourt, he said. The government claimed that the demand for fuel has stabilized over the week and more fuel is now being delivered than is being sold, though some parts of the country still face challenges.
UK Trade Secretary Quasi Quarteng said, “Thanks to the immense efforts of the industry over the past week, we continue to see signs that the pump conditions are gradually improving.” UK forecourt stock levels are rising, fuel deliveries to forecourt are above normal levels, and fuel demand is stabilizing. It is important to emphasize that there is no national fuel shortage in the UK, and people should continue to buy fuel as normal. The sooner we return to our normal shopping habits, the sooner we can return to normalcy, he said.
The military intervention comes with a slew of measures to ease temporary supply chain pressure in the food shipping industries, which the UK government says is rebounding by the pandemic and the global economy around the world. Further measures include a bespoke scheme allowing up to 300 fuel tanker drivers in the UK on a temporary basis.
The UK Home Office is allowing many fuel haulage drivers to work in the UK immediately as an emergency measure to deal with the crisis. This follows an earlier announcement of further time-limited visa measures to receive 4,700 food haulage drivers from the end of October and leave by February 2022. The government has insisted that visas are only a short-term fix and it wants employers to make long-term ones. Investing in the UK’s domestic workforce rather than relying on foreign labor to build a high-wage, high-skill economy.
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