Britain scrambles for truck drivers as queues form at petrol stations amid shortage
- BP temporarily closed some 1,200 petrol stations due to driver shortages
- The trucking industry body urged the government to allow short-term visas for international drivers to enter Britain and fill the gap
Just as the world’s fifth largest economy emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, a spike in European natural gas prices and a post-Brexit shortage of truck drivers has left Britain grappling with soaring energy prices and a potential food supply crunch.
BP temporarily closed some of its 1,200 UK petrol stations due to a lack of both unleaded and diesel grades, which it blamed on driver shortages. ExxonMobil’s Esso said a small number of its 200 Tesco Alliance retail sites had also been impacted.
Queues formed at some petrol stations in London and the southern English county of Kent on Friday as motorists rushed to fill up.
For months supermarkets and farmers have warned that a shortage of truck drivers was straining supply chains to breaking point – making it harder to get goods onto shelves.
