UK runs out of petrol and truckers over Brexit

Oil companies, like Shell, ExxonMobil and Greenergy, insist in what there is no shortage of gasoline and claim that the supply pressures are due to “Temporary spikes in customer demand, not a nationwide fuel shortage. ” A succession of government ministers has spoken in the same direction. “There is no shortage,” the Minister of the Environment said on Monday, Georges Eustice. “The most important thing is that people buy gasoline as they normally would.”

“It would have been quite manageable if we hadn’t seen a lot of media coverage around the fact that there was a shortage., then a public reaction to it. “However, it is clear that now there is a shortage in points of sale, that is to say in gas stations.

Not just gasoline, but also empty gondolas

The problem, moreover, it goes well beyond fuels. The The UK is currently experiencing significant supply chain disruption for various goods and services, that left supermarket shelves empty of certain items and makes you fear that there is a shortage at Christmas. Supply problems due to The shortage of freight drivers from the European Union (EU) is attributed to the pandemic and especially to Brexit.

According to local media, nine out of ten service stations ran out of fuel. This has caused supply problems for health personnel, including doctors and nurses, and it is estimated that schools will return to online courses because teachers cannot fill their cars’ tanks. The The British Medical Association (BMA) called for priority to be given to health workers and essential workers to access the fuel. Meanwhile, to alleviate the crisisIt was reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government would look to the military to force soldiers to drive tankers, but later Environment Minister George Eustice abandoned the plan.. “We have no plans at this time to bring in the military to drive the trucks,” Eustice said.

However, the fuel industry warned that even with the involvement of the military, this would not end the shortage at gas stations. To appease the crisis, The UK government announced this weekend that it will grant 10,500 visas to truck drivers and workers abroad, to those who they will be allowed to work temporarily. Temporary visa plan will allow 5,000 heavy vehicle drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to work in the UK until Christmas Eve. This measure This is a radical change in the policy of the Prime Minister, who toughened immigration rules after the country left the EU and He reiterated the need to end dependence on foreign labor. Johnson was a big fan of Brexit, actually coming to power thanks to the political crisis he sparked.

Offended truckers

However, the government’s plan is not enough to attract drivers, who deem the proposal “offensive”. WHEREA Polish driver living in Glasgow told the BBC that Boris Johnson’s plan flies in the face of Brexit policies that “kicked” European workers out of the UK. According to Edwin Atema, leader of the Dutch union FNV, representing workers in the sector across Europe, the drivers will not go back to the UK to get the country out of the problems that the British themselves have created.

Atema told the BBC that the offer of temporary visas will not be enough to attract them in the United Kingdom and assured that in the short term it will be a dead end. The union leader also argued that more is needed and believes the EU workers they spoke to will not be going to the UK on a short stay visa to help the British.

In the same line, the director of the European Road Transport Association (UETR), Marco Digioia, said Drivers on the continent will likely ignore the UK in favor of “higher wages and better working conditions” across Europe. “I hope that many drivers will not return to the UK even if the government allows them to do so,” said Marco Digioia, UETR general secretary, who it represents more than 70 per cent of road transport companies in the EU. Digioia added that it was “not surprising” that the UK suffers from a driver shortage, which it attributed first to Brexit and then to the pandemic.

“There is also a shortage of drivers across Europe, but the EU is committed to improving facilities for workers and transport companies are committed to improving wages and working conditions. As long as the UK does not offer the same wages and working conditions as in the EU, they will not come back “, he claimed.

The activity area estimate that at least 100,000 heavy-duty truck drivers are needed to restore the situation. The shortage of truck drivers in the UK This is a consequence of Brexit and low wages, today believes Olaf Scholz, leader of the German SDP who could replace Angela Merkel. as chancellor of his country. Scholz said that the free movement of workers was an advantage of the EU that the UK had decided to leave behind.

The French Minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaunesaid on Monday that the current problems at UK gas stations reflect the “intellectual fraud” that Brexit caused. “Every day we see the intellectual fraud that was Brexit,” Beaune told France 2 television.