UK Fuel Crisis: PM Boris Johnson puts army on standby to aid supply of petrol, diesel

Amidst an apparent energy crisis, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put the army on standby to help fuel reach petrol stations. For days, long queues of desperate consumers have been hitting fuel stations, albeit suppliers say demand would rescind to normal in coming days. On Monday, Downing Street announced that army drivers would be trained to support delivery of petrol and diesel to fuel stations for a brief span of time without hinting at any immediate deployment.  

Pictures and videos that surfaced online show long lines of vehicles coalscenced outside fule stations. Meanwhile, a report published in The Guardian stated that some essential workers were not able to carry their work due to shortages. Notably, PM Johnson on Sunday assembled hundreds of soldiers to kick start “Operation Escalin” to supply fuel in third of UK’s pumps that had run dry, the British press reported.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, described it as “sensible, precautionary step” to tackle the ongoing crisis. Acknowledging the “supply chain issues,” he said that deployment of military personnel will help ease the pressure on local vendors. 

“The UK continues to have strong supplies of fuel. However, we are aware of supply chain issues at fuel station forecourts and are taking steps to ease these as a matter of priority,” he said. “If required, the deployment of military personnel will provide the supply chain with additional capacity as a temporary measure to help ease pressures caused by spikes in localised demand for fuel.”

UK suspends Comprehension Act 

Pumps with no fuel triggered mass panic buying in the UK, prompting the British government to resort to emergency protocols. UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on 26 September suspended the Competition Act 1998  to exempt competition in the fuel industry which will allow suppliers to target filling the empty stations. He invoked the Downstream Oil Protocol after a meeting with senior executives from the fuel industry to work constructively with fuel producers, suppliers, hauliers and retailers to ensure that disruption is minimised as far as possible,10 Downing Street informed in a statement. 

"UK's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in his televised remarks denied Brexit laws as being the cause of the recent fuel crisis with Sky, as he said: “I have seen people point to Brexit as the culprit here when in fact they are wrong. Not only are there very large and even larger shortages in other EU countries like Poland and Germany, which clearly can’t be because of Brexit.” 

(Image: AP)