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UK govt considers calling in army to ease shortages at fuel stations
As unions called for emergency workers to be given priority for fuel supplies, Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) chairman Brian Madderson said training had been taking place “in the background” for military personnel to drive tankers.
Long lines of cars formed at British gas stations for a fourth day on Monday, as the government mulled sending in the army to help ease the supply disruptions, triggered by a shortage of truck drivers.
As unions called for emergency workers to be given priority for fuel supplies, Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) chairman Brian Madderson said training had been taking place “in the background” for military personnel to drive tankers.
The British government said it had “no plans at the moment” to deploy troops, but was making preparations, just in case the move is necessary. Ministers were meeting on Monday to discuss the fuel squeeze.
The PRA, which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said on Sunday that about two-thirds of its members had run out of fuel, as the truck driver shortage set off rounds of gas panic-buying.
Long lines of vehicles have formed at many gas stations across Britain since Friday, causing spillover traffic jams on busy roads. Tempers have frayed as some drivers have been waiting in queues for hours.
Olaf Scholz, leader of Germany’s Social Democrats, the party that came first in the country’s election on Sunday, linked Britain’s worker shortages to Brexit.
“The free movement of labour is part of the European Union, and we worked very hard to convince the British to not leave the union,” he said.
“Now they decided different, and I hope they will manage the problems coming from that.”
French European Affairs minister Clement Beaune said on Monday that the petrol station problem currently faced by Britain reflected the “intellectual fraud” that was Brexit.
“Every day, we see the intellectual fraud that was Brexit,” Beaune told France 2 television on Monday in sharp remarks on the crisis.
