Driver shortage hits petrol supply
THE HGV driver shortage has hit oil giant BP with deliveries of petrol and diesel to forecourts across the UK set to be reduced to ensure supplies do not run out.
BP told the Government in a meeting last Thursday that last the company’s ability to transport fuel from refineries to forecourts was faltering.
BP’s head of UK retail Hanna Hofer said it was important the Government understood the “urgency of the situation”, which she described as “bad, very bad”, according to a report by ITV News.
According to ITV News, Ms Hofer said BP had “two-thirds of normal forecourt stock levels required for smooth operations” and the level is “declining rapidly”.
It is unclear how soon deliveries could be restricted but fuel will not be restocked for one and a half days a week “very soon”. Motorways will be prioritised and restocked as normal, according to reports.
The HGV sector has been struggling with recruitment in recent months with a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit reducing the number of available drivers. With test centres shut and many HGV drivers from the EU returning home during the pandemic, it has created a shortage of qualified drivers.
The issue has already hit supermarkets, with shelves half full and grocers forced to increase salaries and introduce signing on bonuses to fill gaps.
Some councils have cancelled bin collections as drivers have taken more lucrative jobs elsewhere. Calls from Morrisons and Ocado for the Government to add HGV drivers to its skills shortage jobs list, to allow EU workers to fill the shortfall, were investigated but not implemented following pressure from the Home Office.