Disruption is expected to continue at petrol stations for at another month, even if people stop panic buying, industry figures warn.
Boris Johnson has claimed the UK fuel crisis is ‘stabilising’, and dismissed calls for key workers to be given priority at garages.
He said he ‘understands why people say that’ but insisted the problem should ‘stabilise in a normal way’.
But the Army are still ready to start driving fuel tankers to petrol stations this week, as the issue is really to do with a shortage of HGV drivers rather than fuel.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace signed off a request for military assistance, with up to 300 troops free for deployment if needed, under Operation Escalin.
They are all qualified to drive HGVs, but they may need another three days’ training to learn how to fill petrol stations with fuel, sources say.
Across the country there have been scenes of people fighting and abuse at petrol station forecourts as drivers frantically queue to get petrol.
But even if all of that suddenly stopped, industry sources have suggested the disruption could still carry on for weeks due to the time it would take to refill stations.
One told The Times they expected BP to be experiencing problems for the next month.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps pleaded with motorists to stop bringing ‘water bottles’ to petrol stations as panic buying intensified.
Yesterday the Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters: ‘I want to say, first of all, how much I sympathise with people who’ve been worried about their journeys, worried about whether they’ll be able to use their cars in the normal way, to see their loved ones or whatever it is, and I know how frustrating, infuriating it must have been to worry about shortage of petrol or fuel.
‘We now are starting to see the situation improve; we’re hearing from (the) industry that supplies are coming back on to the forecourt in the normal way.
‘I would really just urge everybody to go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way when you need it.
‘What we want to do is to make sure we have all the preparations needed to get through to Christmas and beyond, not just in supply for petrol stations but all parts of the supply chain.’
Johnson claimed there had been a spike in demand due to a ‘slightly misleading’ account of the driver shortage.
He added: ‘The actual number of lorry drivers that we’re short in that particular sector isn’t very big. But generally there is a shortage in that profession around the world.’
This was after the Government signed off an offer of 10,500 temporary visas for HGV drivers and agricultural workers to help stave off disruption in time for Christmas.
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said there were ‘early signs’ of pressure easing at pumps.
The organisation, which represents nearly 5,500 of the UK’s 8,000 stations, said around 37% of its sites had run out of fuel – compared with two-thirds on Sunday.
PRA executive director Gordon Balmer said: ‘With regular restocks taking place, this percentage [of petrol stations with fuel] is likely to improve further over the next 24 hours.
‘Fuel stocks remain normal at refineries and terminals, although deliveries have been reduced due to the shortage of HGV drivers.’
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