Soldiers could drive food lorries to save Christmas

As military helps out in fuel crisis, ministers may extend order to ensure festive supplies get to the shops

THE Government is prepared to ask soldiers to drive HGVS until Christmas, senior sources have said.

The military has already been called in to drive fuel tankers, but could also be required to drive lorries to prevent shortages of food and other goods over the festive period.

Senior government figures have indicated they are willing to seek an extension of the Military Assistance to Civilian Authorities [MACA] order which allows soldiers to be drafted in if problems finding new HGV drivers persist.

Boris Johnson insisted this week that “Christmas this year will be very considerably better than last year”, amid fears of shortages. He previously refused to rule out continuing supplychain disruption, but promised the Government “will do everything we can”.

It comes as a survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that one in six shoppers were unable to buy essential food items in the past fortnight.

Around 200 soldiers are involved in driving fuel tankers to forecourts, with around 100 doing the driving and 100 helping with delivery.

The original MACA order is understood to last only 30 days, meaning it runs out at the start of November.

But a government source said it could be extended: “MACAS are required periodically. One of the functions of the Armed Forces is resilience to all types of threat. If it is needed for longer we would look at a new extension to this one.”

Government analysis of petrol shortages has shown an improvement in supplies this week, although concerns remain about stocks in the South East.

But there remain fears over the shortage of HGV drivers. On Tuesday, it emerged that just 127 out of 300 fasttracked visas for lorry drivers had been granted, with just 27 of those for fueltanker drivers. Cabinet ministers have declined to rule out that shortages and supply-chain issues could last all the way to Christmas.

The ONS survey found that while 17 per cent of adults could not buy essential food items in the past fortnight because they were not available, almost a quarter said the same for non-essential food items.

Nigel Jenney, of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said: “Our industry, from a fresh produce point of view, is in a labour crisis … there is no point in having any drivers if we don’t have anyone to harvest and package the goods.”

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, told Sky News “we’re right at the tail end” of the situation with fuel supply pressures. He said in “most parts of the country” problems have ended, and that London and the South East are the only two areas “where we’re seeing any continued problems”.

He added that around 3,500 people had applied for provisional HGV licences in the past week.