The UK government has extended an emergency visa program for truck drivers, after fuel shortages showed few signs of easing this week in London.
Key points:
- Britain is short thousands of truck drivers, in part caused by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic
- 5,000 temporary visas for foreign truck drivers will be extended until February 2022
- The Petrol Retailers Association says the decision is not “a major panacea”
The government said it hoped to recruit 5,000 foreign truck drivers on temporary visas, which will run until the end of February, instead of expiring on Christmas Eve as originally planned.
The Christmas Eve cut-off was criticised last week for not being attractive enough to entice foreign drivers.
The government said 300 fuel drivers would be able to come to the UK from overseas “immediately”, and stay until March.
Some 4,700 other visas intended for foreign food-truck drivers will last from late October to the end of February.
In another bid to ease the pressure at the pumps, around 200 military personnel, which includes 100 drivers, will be deployed from Monday to help to relieve fuel supply shortages that have caused empty pumps and long lines at filling stations.
The government insisted the situation was improving.
“UK forecourt stock levels are trending up, deliveries of fuel to forecourts are above normal levels, and fuel demand is stabilising,” Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.
“It’s important to stress there is no national shortage of fuel in the UK, and people should continue to buy fuel as normal.”
However, the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent filling stations, warned that fuel supplies remained a problem and could be getting worse in places.