UK: petrol station chaos and brawls over fuel shortage | Fifth day of conflict for lack of truckers

Huge queues and violent scenes were seen at petrol stations across UK on Tuesday in the wake of the fuel crisis which has already entered the fifth day due to the lack of tanker drivers, a situation which authorities say will worsen further.

Supply problems due to shortage of European Union (EU) freight drivers attributed to pandemic, but they got much worse with the end of Brexit, as many European workers have decided to leave the UK.

The situation is also affecting the supply chains of various goods and services, which left supermarket shelves empty of certain items and raised fears of a Christmas shortage.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tried to convey a hint of hope by saying there are “tentative signs” that the crisis is easing, although he admitted this “will not be reflected” in the situation. current.

“There are very tentative first signs of stabilization in forecourt storage that will not be reflected in the queues yet,” Shapps said, adding, “But this is the first time we’ve seen more of it. gasoline at petrol stations. “

Situations of violence

Meanwhile, in what is called in the UK “racing in panic “, there have been clashes and brawls between motorists at gas stations across the country, estimated to be nine out of ten distributors have run out of fuel.

In Welling, south-east London, a man pulled out a knife to attack another while waiting inside the car in a long line to refuel, a scene that ended with the attacker on the hood after being pushed by the attacked motorist.

Also at an Esso petrol station in the town of Sidlesham, near Chichester in West Sussex, southern England, two groups of men clashed violently while waiting, according to some local media.

The role of government

At this stage, government accused of not doing enough to improve the situation and even to exclude the possibility that the army is providing aid, at least to deal with the supply of essential services such as ambulances, cars for doctors and teachers.

In this sense, even the British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for priority to be given to healthcare workers and essential workers to access fuel, who have been lining up for hours to refuel.

“We can’t spend two or three hours in line when we have patients to treat,” British Medical Association vice chairman David Wrigley told Sky News. “If we don’t have fuel, it will affect our patients,” he said.

If the problem persisted, some schools were considering reverting to distance education, which had been abandoned since restrictions on covid-19 were lifted. “For many teachers, using public transport is just not an option,” said Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT union.

Visas for foreign drivers

To alleviate the crisis, the government has announced it will grant 10,500 visas to overseas drivers and truckers, who will be allowed to work in the UK until Christmas Eve.

This measure represents a radical change in the policy of the Prime Minister, who toughened immigration rules after the country’s exit from the EU and reiterated the need to end dependence on labor. foreign work.

However, EU drivers are unlikely to return with temporary visas, as European unions have spoken about the way they were treated last Christmas, poor wages and a lack of basic services for the sector in the United States. UK. .

Olaf Scholz, the man who aspires to replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Free movement of workers was an EU benefit the UK decided to leave behind and the UK’s shortage of truck drivers is a consequence of Brexit and low wages.

“We have worked very hard to convince the British not to leave the European Union. Now they have decided differently and I hope they will handle the problems that arise from it,” said Scholz.

For Daniel Ozarow, lecturer in human resources management at Middlesex University in London and Labor Party advisor for the Hertsmere district, located on the outskirts of the British capital, that European drivers have returned to their country in the last two years years, represents “a terrible failure of the Conservative government”, for not having planned in advance to avoid this chaos since they had the time since the referendum vote of 2016.

“Gas station closures on this scale are very common in the UK. In fact, the last time this happened during a truckers strike was in 2001. Experiment Roads blocked as desperate citizens line up for gas and the food shortages and resulting distribution problems in the 21st century are shameful, ”he said in a dialogue with Telam.

And he warned: “We are supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world, but a lot of people, especially the most vulnerable, are really suffering.”

According to Ozarow, the situation could have been avoided had heavy truck drivers been included in the list of professions, with a government shortage of people eligible for a skilled worker visa to attract drivers from the EU and abroad. back here.

He also argued that even wages in this essential profession could have been subsidized to attract truckers, or worked harder to get retired British truck drivers back.

“The political response of the government of ask foreign and EU truck drivers to return to the UK on emergency visas after actually deporting them nine months ago and then as a Christmas present on December 24, 2021, deporting them again is insulting and desperate. It is no wonder that European trucker unions anticipate that their members will not want to be used in this way, ”concluded the Labor adviser.