Gb, petrol crisis: the army intervenes from Monday

In the United Kingdom, the army intervenes to tackle the crisis in the distribution of petrol which is leaving a quarter of the distributors dry and causing long queues and inconvenience. From Monday almost 200 soldiers, one hundred of them drivers, will deal with the distribution of gasoline throughout the country, the government announced, stressing that this is a “temporary” measure and that the “situation at service stations is slowly improving” . “As the situation stabilizes, our military will fill critical gaps and help keep the country going by supporting the fuel distribution industry,” said Commerce Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. The government has also announced that 300 foreign tanker drivers will be able to work immediately in the UK on temporary visas until the end of March. In fact, the shortage of truck drivers, traditionally from Eastern Europe, caused by Brexit and the pandemic, is at the origin of the distribution crisis. Kwarteng reiterated that “there is no shortage of fuel in the UK” and that the problem is caused by the hoarding of gasoline: “the sooner we return to normal purchase levels, the sooner we will return to normal”. The British government also had to issue temporary work visas for 4,700 food truck drivers between October and February and 5,500 poultry farm workers until 31 December.