The fuel shortage is just the tip of the crisis that the country is experiencing due to lack of labor. While trying to turn it off, the Government has had to go to the Military Forces to find temporary drivers. The shortage begins to have a strong political effect on the Boris Johnson Administration.
Carlos lives in Aberdeen, one of the most remote cities in Scotland.
In the midst of the crisis due to lack of gasoline, he traveled for work from that city to Manchester, in the north of England, six and a half hours. He crossed that invisible border that unites the four regions that make up the United Kingdom.
There he was able to verify the difference that is experienced. In Scotland, which has a population of just over five million people, and where part of the oil the country requires is extracted, he found gasoline.
“As I got closer to England there was no gasoline,” he tells France 24.
“It’s totally different. When we got to Manchester I couldn’t get a gas station with fuel, “he adds.
While the Government assures that the crisis has been alleviating throughout the country, in some petrol stations in England the shortage continues. There is no lack of fuel, there is a shortage of drivers to transport it.
This could have been prevented or at least prepared for it
Prime Minister Boris Johnson justified the crisis the country is experiencing by assuring that it is “a period of adjustment” after Brexit.
“There are many skilled workers who need fuel to get around. I think this could have been avoided or at least prepared for it, ”Robbert Peters, who works in a central London hospital as a physiotherapist in the public health system (NHS), tells France 24.
In London the shortage continues
David López is a cameraman and although “in London I don’t need a car because public transport is very efficient”, he drives when doing work outside the city.
Anticipating the lack of gasoline and as he has reported for several days on this crisis, he got up early at 4:30 ‘hunting’ fuel in various sectors of central London.
He started on Liverpool Street and after visiting three other gas stations, he finally found one where he could fill up the tank, 40 minutes after leaving his home.
“With desperation you don’t look at the price, but it was normal,” he says.
The Association of gasoline retailers assures that the crisis is practically over in the north of England and Scotland, but it persists, it is “challenging” in the British capital and in the south of the country.
Since the shortage began, in the face of the collective panic due to lack of gasoline, vehicle chaos and traffic jams near service stations have also increased. Even whole blocks of cars.
Another repeated scene is that of vehicles entering and leaving gas stations throughout the day looking for some fuel. Some stations have set a maximum cap of £ 30, about $ 41 per person.
The little gasoline that is found evaporates with the purchases of the first hours of the day. Gas stations generally receive fuel at night.
Operation fill gasoline
200 members of the military forces, 100 of them drivers who have been trained in the logistics and complexity of transporting fuel, have begun to travel the country to carry gasoline and thus try to end the crisis.
In the so-called ‘Operation Escalin’, the soldiers transport gasoline in tanks of different companies, but also the fuel reserve tanks of the Government fleet, managed by civilians, have been rolling the roads of the country for several days.
What’s more, The competition law of that industry has been made more flexible so that the different companies can supply other service stations with gasoline and not only those of your property.
Gabriela Jorge lives on the outskirts of London and describes her odyssey as “a nightmare”.
“I have not been able to get. Now I can’t drive anywhere because there is no fuel. I looked for it in so many stations and whenever there is something, the lines are so long that I would wait more than an hour ”, he points out.
Drivers Wanted
Trying to ease the crisis the Government has temporarily relaxed its immigration system to allow 5,500 large truck drivers to go to the UK until the end of February 2022.
However, different industries have warned that this number is insufficient for the size of the demand because in reality at least 100,000 drivers are needed not only to transport gasoline but all kinds of products including fresh food.
According to ‘The Times’, so far only 27 drivers have applied for that temporary work visa offered two weeks ago.
Which shows that UK jobs in post-Brexit conditions and on a temporary visa are no longer attractive.
Is a reality. Since before the divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union became effective, the number of workers in that community has declined markedly. According to ‘Bloomberg’, 200,000 Europeans have left due to Brexit and the pandemic.
But also Covid-19, added to the fact that some large truck drivers have retired, has contributed to the crisis worsening.
The association representing truckers states that drivers’ working conditions have deteriorated markedly in recent years.
The price of the hour is still very low and it is a strenuous work because it requires long hours, even days, traveling on roads.
“Before the pandemic we estimated a shortage of more than 60,000. At the time, companies employed approximately 600,000 heavy vehicle drivers, including 60,000 from EU Member States who resided and worked in the UK, ”states the Road Haulage Association in a letter to the Prime Minister.
Once Brexit became effective, in January 2021, the Government expected that, without the supply of cheap labor from Europe, British companies would have to improve their job offers to recruit locals, but this has not been the case.
Meanwhile, different industries continue to pressure Johnson to make the immigration system more flexible to allow them to continue hiring low-wage European citizens.
“I really think Brexit is a big cause of how things are going right now,” says Peters, frustrated, because he can’t get gas and has to drive three hours from his home in Kent to work and back every day.
“I think the Government really understood or appreciated how much England depends on the European nations for its workforce, whether they are truck drivers, teachers and medical personnel,” he adds.
Fears for the holiday season
The concern among the population now is that not only the gasoline crisis will spread further, but that the lack of drivers and labor for different sectors puts Christmas at risk.
The fear is that you cannot find fresh or traditional foods such as turkey for the holidays. The poultry sector warned that there are not enough workers for the slaughterhouses, which will generate shortages.
“Riot on the trains, fights at the gas pumps … Boris is losing control as the ‘Disunited Kingdom’ is unraveling at an alarming rate,” notes ‘The Telegraph’ columnist Judith Woods.
Christmas is looming and the Government is confident that it will be able to guarantee normalcy at that time. Meanwhile, the clock runs at full speed.
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