The British Government is carrying out emergency measures in an effort to counter the shortage of  gasoline, after a long weekend of panic buying which has left the gas stations throughout the country without enough fuel.  

Long queues of vehicles were spotted outside UK gas stations in the past few days, as panicked drivers tried to fill up their tanks seeing media reports of an imminent shortage, prompting Government officials to urge the citizens to purchase fuel as normal.

The fuel shortage has been caused by a major lack of truck drivers in the country, which has resulted in delays in the delivery of fuel and goods.

Kwasi Kwartnge, the Business Minister of UK stated on Sunday that he had exempted the fuel industry from the UK competition laws, which according to him would help the companies to prioritise fuel delivery to the areas most affected.

Meanwhile, numerous truck drivers are all set to receive temporary UK visas in the run up to Christmas, in an effort to counter the supply disruptions before we step into the festive season.

Prime Minister Borish Johnson, has been widely reported to be considering military support to deliver fuel to gas stations. But Environment Secretary George Eustice on Monday said that the Government has no plans in place at the moment to bring in military support to deliver fuel.

Gordon Balmer, executive director of Petrol Retailers Association of UK, has stated that the temporary visa initiative would ease supply constraints to some extent, but will not be enough. He went on to say that he hoped that the Government was considering measures like bringing in military help.

BP, one of the oil giants, has revealed that it had temporarily closed off some of its gas stations due to the shortages  of diesel and unleaded petrol.

Before the pandemic, the U.K.’s Road Haulage Association estimated that the U.K. had a shortage of more than 60,000 heavy goods vehicle drivers. At that time, around 600,000 HGV drivers were employed in the country, according to the RHA, 60,000 of whom were from EU member states. Since the pandemic, the RHA estimates that the shortage has widened to 100,000 drivers.

Before Covid hit the country, UK's Road Haulage Association reported that there was a shortage of more than 60000 heavy goods vehicle drivers in the country. At that time, about 600000 HGV drivers were employed in UK, according to RHA a major portion of the drivers were from EU member states. And since the pandemic the RHA has estimated that the shortage has risen to 100000 drivers.