No fuel.

[AngleEyes]

As a general response to all the theories put forward for the shortage of drivers, there is a UK Select Committee report (2016) on the problem. So the government were warned of the impending crisis many years ago.
"A Driver Shortage?
1.We believe that the driver shortage is a shortage of people willing to work in the sector rather than a shortage of people with the right qualifications and licences. It seems to us that the apparent shortage will get worse unless action is taken to improve retention and increase recruitment. (Paragraph 24)

2.We conclude that there is no single cause for the driver shortage but a combination of a number of factors make the job less attractive than it was........."
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmtrans/740/74002.htm


The initial Report comments are in Bold, and the Government responses in normal text.
The Government response puts the onus squarely on the industry:
"We agree that there is a shortage of people willing to work in the sector and that retention of drivers has been a major barrier to tackling the driver shortage. The industry should undertake an evaluation to establish why LGV licence holders left the industry and identify the barriers to their return. We believe that the industry should consider setting itself a target for attracting former drivers back to the sector."

 

[JohnD]

"The UK government has blinked. For months, ministers have refused to cede to the meat and transport industries’ pleas for access to migrant workers, telling them sternly they should raise pay and conditions to attract locals instead.

Now, with food and fuel shortages growing, they have promised visas for 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers. Who will want these short-term visas, which expire on Christmas Eve?

It’s unlikely workers from the EU will queue up. As Tomasz Oryński, a Polish truck driver and journalist, told me: “Why would you want to go to Britain, jump all these hoops, face all this hostile environment, if you could go to Ireland or Holland and earn more, be respected, drive on nicer motorways with nice truck stops, and be a free European citizen not a second-class citizen?”

FT.com

"None of this was inevitable. If the government had really wanted to improve the quality of jobs in the food and transport sectors, it could have done so regardless of Brexit. It could have followed the example of the Netherlands, where employers and unions agree to sectoral agreements which put a floor on pay and conditions. It also could have beefed up its woeful enforcement of existing labour market laws.

After the Brexit vote in 2016, the government could have started planning for life without low-paid migration. It could have done all the things it is doing now in a blind panic, such as promising free training courses for HGV licences. Ministers could also have tackled the power imbalance in the food supply chain which puts relentless pressure on labour costs."

If we'd wanted a competent government, we wouldn't have voted for Johnson and his Brexers.

 

[JP_]

Who will want these short-term visas, which expire on Christmas Eve?

Some people would probably love this. If they are usually working for companies that are busier in the summer (agricultural etc) then maybe they would jump on a 3 month visa to earn a much higher rate (presumably) and guarantee they'll be done in time for Christmas so they can go home for a holiday.

 

[JohnD]

you think a lot of itinerant grape-pickers are qualified HGV drivers with petrol handling certificates?

 

[AngleEyes]

I queued for petrol last night, and when I reached the front of the queue, I became very emotional and began to fill up.

 

[Stivino]

Tesco Dalkeith this morning. It's spreading.

 

[JohnD]

Just checking, is this still up-to-date?

‘No plans’ for the army to be brought in to fix fuel crisis, minister says

27 September 2021, 06:32 | Updated: 27 September 2021, 13:15

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/tank-up-boris-johnson-draft-in-army-stop-chaos-petrol-pumps-fuel-crisis/

 

[EFLImpudence]

A Government spokesman said "There are no plans to do {whatever} but we are on the way to a meeting to make such plans".

 

[John the plumber]

There is no shortage of petrol and there is no shortage of diesel, there is only a shortage of intelligence from people who believe everything the MSM tells them.

 

[AngleEyes]

There is no shortage of petrol and there is no shortage of diesel, there is only a shortage of intelligence from people who believe everything the MSM tells them.

There's no shortage of a lot of things, they're just in the wrong place than where they're needed, so there may as well be an absence of them.

 

[IT Minion]

There is no shortage of petrol and there is no shortage of diesel, there is only a shortage of intelligence from people who believe everything the MSM tells them.

Don't tell me, you've gone to a petrol station and there was plenty of fuel and no queues, so that proves there is no fuel issues anywhere.

 

[JP_]

you think a lot of itinerant grape-pickers are qualified HGV drivers with petrol handling certificates?

I obviously don't mean grape pickers, no - I mean HGV drivers. And we have enough fuel drivers, otherwise there would have been a shortage before the panic buying.
It's the other lorries that we are short on.

 

[IT Minion]

I obviously don't mean grape pickers, no - I mean HGV drivers. And we have enough fuel drivers, otherwise there would have been a shortage before the panic buying.
It's the other lorries that we are short on.

The slight fuel driver shortage, or at the very least the lack of enough margin for contingencies, was what caused the first panic buying.

 

[fillyboy]

Seems to be back to normal here, lower population density? tourist season over?.

 

[JohnD]

we have enough fuel drivers

In, let's say, 2016, let's suppose we had "sufficient" drivers.

Since then, some have retired, some have died, some spend their time walking the dog or pottering on the allotment, or swigging wine from morning to night, and some have gone home to their country of origin.

The number is now smaller than it was when we had "sufficient."

Has some reputable source told you that (the number that is smaller than "sufficient") is "sufficient?"

Did you pay no attention to the warnings?

Are you Boris Johnson?