United Kingdom: service stations soon to run out of fuel? – LCI

This is an illustration of the difficulties suffered by the British as a result of the pandemic and Brexit. All over England, queues of several hundred meters are forming in front of gas stations, with motorists panicking for fear of a shortage. “I’m really desperate, and I don’t know where to go next”, launches one of them, interviewed by the 20H news in the video at the top of this article.

In several service stations, the message is sober: “Out of service pumps”. And all suppliers are affected. It is not a shortage of fuel, but a lack of drivers to get it to motorists. “It is a source of concern because it is very important to be able to drive everywhere for my work”, worries a truck driver.

Since Brexit and the introduction of work visas, truck drivers, especially from Eastern Europe, no longer come to work in the United Kingdom. Result: there would be 100,000 missing. Faced with fears of shortages, the Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps, called motorists, this Friday, September 24 in the morning, to “act as usual” and not to make massive purchases under the effect of panic, which could make the situation worse. The press also mentions the possibility of mobilizing the army to deliver fuel.

Another sector on the brink of the crisis: gas. Its price is soaring with more than 70% increase last month, causing unexpected and worrying effects. Thus, factories that produce CO2 for the food industry, large consumers of energy, have had to close. And without CO2, no sparkling water in supermarkets, no beer in pubs. And even meat production is affected, as Mike Holling, director of sales and marketing at Sales Birds Bakery explains: “This is our stock of CO2, we use it to package the meat, to keep it fresh. If it becomes rare, we will have to look for alternatives. But the prices will necessarily have to increase”, he said.

Brexit, coronavirus and even weather have made the situation worse, as the UK is dependent on the wind. Wind turbines usually provide a quarter of its energy, but in recent weeks it has been dead calm; they idled. Several coal-fired power stations even had to be re-ignited so as not to plunge the country into darkness.