Life came to a standstill early this week when England faced a fuel crisis amid already looming food shortages and a lack of drivers. Children stood in long queues at bus stops for school, many people walked long distances because buses couldn’t meet the demand and frequency due to petrol shortages.
The Mirror reported a brawl has broke out at a London petrol station after a driver reportedly tried to jump the queue. Footage taken at BP Haverstock Hill, Camden, yesterday showed the heated fight in front of shocked motorists.
Sohail Anjum, a Long Covid survivor who is still recovering from the aftermath of Covid the said that the “petrol queues messed up the bus turnaround times.” Speaking to the newsweekly, he said, “Buses arriving were packed to the brim. Being a Long Covid survivor, I'm still hesitant about getting onto a packed bus where passengers don't bother wearing masks. The next bus was 21 minutes away, which means I would have missed my train. So had no choice but to walk to the station, which is a 20-minute walk.”
Dipul Miah, who provides taxi services, told Asian Voice, “What I am seeing is just a repeat of the whole toilet tissue & pasta hoarding that happened during the 1st lockdown. Society seems to be a bunch of sheep's as they don't understand the reality as there isn't actually a fuel shortage but just that one company has fewer drivers that are delivering the fuel. Lastly, the government & the media are to blame for this situation as they have again made a mountain out of a molehill.”
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA council chair, said: “Emergency and essential workers rely on fuel both to travel to work and for their work itself – whether this is to get to hospitals, practices and other healthcare settings, or for ambulances to reach people in urgent need of care and GPs to visit very ill patients at home.”
Meanwhile, a woman sparked online outrage after she posted an ad on the Marple, Romiley and Bredbury Community Facebook page on Monday. The caption read: “10L e10 petrol. Collection from Romiley. £50 Ono. Cans not included but can fill up on collection.” The post, which included a photo of two green petrol cans, attracted fury from others online.
“'EU truckers will NOT help Britain out of the s**t they created themselves', European HGV drivers' union chief lashed the hopes of 'short-term visa' fix - while British driver says red-tape and abuse forced them out of the industry,” the Mail reported. A media report also said that long queues of vehicles snaked their way to gas stations in Britain on Saturday where an acute shortage of truck drivers has led to fuel rationing and some pumps running dry and prompted the government to consider issuing temporary work visas.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has kept the army on standby to deal with UK’s fuel crisis. “No 10 said army drivers would be ready to help deliver petrol and diesel on a short-term basis, but stopped short of an immediate deployment, even though some essential workers have not been able to carry out their jobs without fuel,” Guardian reported.
Sir Keir Starmer criticised Johnson and said, “The consequences of Boris Johnson’s failure to prepare or plan are being felt across our country. The government must now bring together businesses and trade unions to develop a proper plan, both for the immediate crisis, as well as to tackle the long-term issues that have led us here.”
