No surprise EU drivers snub us

Assuming that HGV drivers from the EU will rush back here to rescue us from a petrol crisis for a few bleak weeks is pure fantasy. A short period of work followed by a “goodbye” at Christmas is an extremely unattractive proposition for any foreign driver.

And, of course, Darren Lewis (Mirror, Sept 28) is absolutely right in attributing the HGV crisis to the chaotic adoption of Brexit after a Leave campaign that was largely fuelled by xenophobia.

One Dutch road haulier boss spoke of the reluctance of his drivers to “drag the UK out of the sh** they created for themselves” and I can’t blame him.

Yet no former British Vote Leave politician will admit that Brexit, so far at least, is proving to be a ludicrous, ill-advised decision. Paul Methven Winscombe, Somerset

■ Darren Lewis was spot on in his column on Tuesday, pointing out that European drivers won’t work for a country that only wants them until Christmas. It’s obvious we will have to admit essential overseas workers on a permanent basis for the UK to get back on its feet after the pandemic.

This will mean backtracking on a major part of Brexit. I am bound to ask how much more backtracking will be necessary before we inevitably end up where we were before we voted to leave the EU? Stuart Magrath, Wigan Gtr Manchester

■ Is the deafening silence from Whitehall over the fuel

crisis because ministers are prepping for their back-slapping Tory Conference next week? No doubt they’re following the example of the PM by leaving things to work themselves out, and then blaming others. This is the Tory mantra, so why are we surprised?

Johnson doesn’t understand the shortages. Just because there is enough product, doesn’t mean anything unless it can be delivered to the public.

Another consequence of Brexit. Geoff Willmetts Bridgwater, Somerset

To offer EU lorry drivers a temporary visa to help us out in a crisis, and then kick them out at Christmas, when many of them spent the last festive season in a lorry park in Kent because of the ridiculous Brexit border foul up, is arrogant in the extreme.

Darren Lewis is right to say that Brexit was fuelled by xenophobia and we are now living through the consequences. It’s disgraceful and makes me ashamed to be British. B Davies, Birmingham

The Government needs to stop lying to us about HGV drivers and shortages. This whole mess is down to Brexit and the Government’s blinkered version of it.

Stop protecting a referendum no one cares about any more. We can all see it’s dead in the water and drowning the public in despair. Collin Rossini, Dovercourt, Essex

I disagree with Edward Lyon who says ministers should never say “don’t panic buy” as it has the opposite effect (Your Voice, Sept 28). When Johnson went into his “don’t panic” mode, he knew darn well that’s what people would do and that’s exactly what he wanted so he and his cronies could claim the fuel crisis was all down to the public – and not them.

D Bosher, North London

■ I see that Boris Johnson and co are trying to blame the HGV driver shortage on the Covid pandemic when it’s a consequence of the disaster that is Brexit. I hope all the people who believed the lies trotted out by Johnson and Farage are satisfied with making this country the poor man of Europe. Terry Wright, Derby