Fuel crisis: London bears brunt of shortage

Teachers and doctors hit as up to 90 per cent of outlets in London run out of petrol and diesel
Motorists queue for fuel
Night into day: some drivers had to queue for more than four hours to get petrol at garages on Monday
Evening Standard / eyevine / Nigel Howard

Thousands of Londoners including teachers and doctors were forced to work from home on Monday as the capital bore the brunt of the “shambolic” fuel crisis.

Retailers said that up to 90 per cent of their outlets in and around London were out of petrol and diesel after a six-fold surge in demand from drivers over the weekend. Ministers were holding more meetings on Monday in a bid to halt the run on the pumps and allow supplies to recover.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “The most important thing is that people just buy petrol as they normally would. There isn’t a shortage. There does come a time when things settle down, people get used to it and return to life as normal again. The quicker people do that the better. The only reason we don’t have petrol in forecourts is that people are buying petrol when they don’t need it.”

The Government had "no plans at the moment" to use the Army to drive petrol tankers amid continuing shortages at filling stations, Mr Eustice said.

His comments came amid reports Boris Johnson was considering sending in troops to deliver fuel to petrol stations following days of long queues at the pumps.

In a pooled clip for broadcasters, Mr Eustice said: "We are bringing Ministry of Defence (MoD) trainers in to accelerate some of the HGV training to clear a backlog of people who want to carry out those tests, and there's definitely a role there for the MoD.

"In terms of other things we've no plans at the moment to bring in the Army to actually do the driving, but we always have a Civil Contingencies section within the Army on standby - but we're not jumping to that necessarily at the moment."

Industry leaders have warned drafting in the Army will not on its own end the shortages on the forecourts.

The Government has already ordered a temporary relaxation of Brexit rules allowing the creation of 5,000 three-month visas to bring in extra hauliers from Europe to ease the shortage.

It has also suspended the normal strict competition rules in the fuel retail sector so that suppliers can share information to target the worst-hit areas. Amid the worsening crisis:

Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the Government to bring in the Army to secure supplies so that carers, NHS staff and other key workers can drive again.

Business leaders demanded that Boris Johnson “gets a grip” before the filling station drought starts to undermine the economic recovery.

Doctor groups warned that GPs were unable to get to their surgeries this morning and have had to return to online consultations.

Motorists were reported to be following tanker drivers to petrol stations in their desperation to secure fuel.

Competition experts said that the suspension of anti-cartel rules would lead to higher prices.

Motorists queue for fuel
Motorists queue in London
Evening Standard / eyevine / Nigel Howard

London is thought to have been particularly badly hit by the weekend wave of panic buying with the capital having far more drivers per filling station than other regions. Hundreds of forecourts have been converted into shops or developed for housing in recent years. The start of the new working week brought chaos with social media platforms filled with pleas from essential workers unable to commute because their car fuel tanks were dry.

It comes as tensions boiled over in queues at pumping stations across the capital. One moped rider was caught on camera appearing to launch a flying kick at another on a forecourt on Sunday.

The helmeted rider appears to aim a kick at another at the BP station in Belsize Park. One man was arrested on suspicion of assault and taken into custody.

One mother posted on Facebook that her daughter’s critical care appointment had been cancelled because her London-based doctor “has been unable to get fuel for his car and cannot get into work”.

A teacher from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, also described her situation asking: “Does anyone know if any of the local petrol stations have unleaded fuel please? I was driving around last night and early this morning, had to send an email in to work to let them know I couldn’t get in, and have now received a rather rude email in return.”

Campaign group EveryDoctor said some medics reported being unable to get to work. Its chief executive, Dr Julia Grace Patterson, said: “Doctors and other healthcare workers cannot care for patients if they cannot get to work. I am hearing from many today who have spent the weekend unsuccessfully trying to find petrol.

“Our Health Secretary Sajid Javid has been critical of telephone consultations recently — he clearly believes face-to-face appointments are necessary. We therefore need to know urgently what the Government’s plan is to ensure that all NHS staff can reach their workplaces safely during this fuel crisis.”

Britain’s worst fuel crisis for more than 20 years has grown since the first reports that some BP garages were running dry appeared on Wednesday. The national shortage of HGV drivers means that some filling stations have not been receiving supplies as regularly as normal but the shortage has been massively worsened by panic buying.

Business group London First’s policy and strategy director Muniya Barua said: “The Government needs to get a grip on the situation quickly before it starts to choke off the recovery.”

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