LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2021) British wheelmen are queuing in front of a gas station in East London that had ran out of supplies after the weekend panic buying, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Monday.
"This is madness, but I rather wait here than keep driving around London and run out of the little amount of petrol (gasoline) I have left in the tank," Ahmed, a driver who was at the front of the queue, told Sputnik.
He said he needed to refill his tank "today" in order to be able to take his children to school and attend work on Tuesday.
Like Ahmed, other drivers waited in a line several blocks long, as a staff from the gas station who preferred not to be named told Sputnik that the tanker with supplies was not expected to arrive any time soon.
A man who said he was an accountant used his time waiting to work on his laptop.
"The government should have foreseen this in advance,"� the driver replied when told that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly considering drafting the army to tackle the crisis.
Panic buying started on September 23, after energy company British Petroleum announced that tens of forecourts in its 1,200-strong network were experiencing fuel shortages, while Tesco and Esso said some of their sites were also affected due to a shortage in tanker drivers.
Over the weekend, after more gas station ran out of supply, the government said it would introduce over 10,000 temporary visas to truck drivers and poultry workers to solve the issue with the supply chain.
Late on Sunday night, business minister Kwasi Kwarteng also announced that fuel firms would be temporarily excluded from the Competition Act for the purposes of minimizing disruptions in the supply of fuel to gas stations.
The government has blamed the suspension of 40,000 trucker training tests during the COVID-19 pandemic for the shortage, but the Road Haulage Association claimed that around 20,000 foreign drivers had left the country after Brexit put an end to the free movement of persons between the European Union and the UK.
Brian Madderson, of the Petrol Retailers Association, told Sky news broadcaster that he hopes to see less vehicles queuing for fuel from Wednesday, as "a lot of cars have now got a lot of fuel in them" following a panic buying weekend.
