The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘No need to panic’ plea as queues build up at forecourts
Filling stations across Tayside and Fife have seen queues forming after some garages in the UK were forced to close due to a lorry driver shortage.
It also emerged that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had held crisis talks over fuel supply concerns during the Scottish Government’s emergency committee earlier this week.
A small number of BP and Tesco filling stations shut on Thursday, as supplies were unable to reach them – reportedly as a result of issues including Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has led to some drivers heading for the pumps amid fears they could run dry.
But the UK Government’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is urging drivers to “carry on” as normal and insists there is enough fuel to go around.
Lines of motorists were seen queuing at stations including Sainsbury’s in Dundee, with pictures showing a large number of vehicles waiting to get on to the forecourt.
Drivers also reported queues in smaller communities like Freuchie, while in Kirriemuir, one local said the area’s only petrol station was “queued for miles” early yesterday.
The resident told The Courier: “When I read the headlines in the national press about possible fuel shortages, I decided to head out and buy fuel.
“I didn’t really want to do this and add to the panic buying situation but I felt, like many others in this community, that I had no alternative.
“We only have the one fuel station in Kirrie that serves thousands of people in the town and surrounding farms and glens.
“I travel to work in Dundee and can’t risk running out of fuel with no alternative available.
“Many others also had the same idea and when I got there the forecourt was packed with cars.”
A second person said: “This is a really worrying situation. No one in a community like ours wants to risk running low on fuel when we have to travel several miles to the next nearest filling station.
“The girl in the garage told me that it had been like this since 6am with a constant flow of people queuing up to buy fuel.
“She said there was plenty of fuel to go around and so far the fuel tankers were supplying the garage four times a week.”
BP stations in Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes confirmed that they were open to customers yesterday morning.
Mr Shapps said the closure is affecting a “handful” of BP stations in the UK, where the company runs more than 1,000 garages.
He told the BBC: “I’m meeting this morning with Tesco and I’m sure they’ll give me the update for themselves.
“None of the other retailers said they had any closures.”
He added: “The others, Asda, Morrisons and other supermarkets, are saying they have no problems, as have other petrol companies.
“I’ll move heaven and Earth to do anything that’s required to make sure that lorries carry on moving our goods and services and petrol around the country.”
But he denied that Brexit was responsible for the UK’s recent shortage of lorry drivers, claiming that the split from the European Union has helped the government to react.
He said: “Not only are there very large and even larger shortages in other EU countries like Poland and Germany, which clearly can’t be to do with Brexit, but actually because of Brexit I’ve been able to change the law and alter the way our driving tests operate in a way I could not have done if we were still part of the EU.
“So, Brexit actually has provided part of the solution of giving more slots available for HGV tests and there are a lot more – twice as many – tests available now than before the pandemic; a large proportion of those we’ve only been able to do because we are no longer in the EU.”
On Thursday, Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association trade body said that the UK Government had allowed the driver shortage to get “gradually worse” in recent months.
“We have got a shortage of 100,000 (drivers),” he told BBC’s Newsnight.
“When you think that everything we get in Britain comes on the back of a lorry, whether it’s fuel or food or clothes or whatever it is, at some point, if there are no drivers to drive those trucks, the trucks aren’t moving and we’re not getting our stuff.”
He added: “I don’t think we are talking about absolutely no fuel or food or anything like that, people shouldn’t panic buy food or fuel or anything else, that’s not what this is about.
“This is about stock-outs, it’s about shortages, it’s about a normal supply chain being disrupted.”
The Scottish Government has assured people that there are no fuel shortages as petrol station forecourts across the country see queues of drivers looking to fill up.
But both the UK and Scottish governments say there is no sign that the supply is about the run dry.
Asked about panic buying by The Courier, a Scottish Government spokesperson confirmed talks have been held to address the situation.
The spokesperson said:
“Although energy and gas supply are reserved issues, ministers are actively engaging in urgent discussion with the sector and pressing the UK Government to take urgent steps to maintain security of our energy supplies and to support domestic, business and industrial consumers given the current market conditions.
“The first minister chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room on Wednesday and we continue to monitor this developing situation,” the spokesperson added.
“We will support the sector and consumers however we can.
“There is no shortage of fuel and supplies are operating as normal in Scotland.”