Frustration on the forecourts while fuel drips through
PETROL stations across Derby and Derbyshire were either busy or deserted yesterday as the fuel crisis affecting the nation continued.
While some filling stations that received deliveries of fuel experienced long queues, others that had run out had cones across the forecourts while they awaited supplies.
Heightened demand for petrol and diesel across the county continued, despite a warning by the Government not to panic-buy as a result of the lorry driver shortage.
Emergency measures were triggered on Sunday evening, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng choosing to suspend competition laws for the fuel industry to allow suppliers to target filling stations running low.
Reports suggested that Boris Johnson was considering sending in the Army to drive oil tankers as “frenzied buying” added to fuel supply issues triggered by worries about the lack of HGV drivers.
Yesterday saw motorists across Derbyshire trying to buy fuel after a number of forecourts closed at the weekend after running out of petrol and diesel.
There had been reports elsewhere of emergency services struggling to buy fuel but Steve Farnsworth, assistant director of operational support services at East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “As a blue-light service, we have robust plans in place so we are assured our vehicles can continue to run and respond to our patients.”
Our reporters were out and about yesterday to see how the situation was across Derbyshire.
At one point there was a “huge” line for fuel at Asda in Sinfin and the petrol station placed a £30 limit to reserve supplies.
There were also queues at the Texaco station near Pentagon Island, with the line stretching along Chequers Road. Sainsbury’s at Osmaston Park was “very busy” in the afternoon and deployed marshals to help control the traffic.
Other garages were out of fuel, with staff waiting to hear when their next delivery would be.
East Midlands Chamber, which represents businesses in the region, released a statement criticising the Government’s response to the HGV driver shortage.
Scott Knowles, its chief executive, said: “While we welcome the Government’s intervention to offer temporary visas for 5,000 foreign lorry drivers and to suspend competition law between oil firms, this is merely sticking a tiny plaster on a gaping wound. Ultimately, policymakers have taken for granted how supply chains work and failed to heed the warning signs that have been flashing for some time.”
A suspension to competition law to assist with fuel supplies would be “very welcome”, Brian Madderson of the Petrol Retailers Association said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Madderson said that in Northern Ireland “there does not seem to be a problem at all with supply and retail outlets, so the problem is confined to the mainland”.
He said: “With the problem of dry sites, we’re really talking more about the concentrated urban areas than we are the rural areas at this stage”.
He said dry sites “are being restocked at the present time but the number of tankers that they’re receiving are below the number that they need to be properly restocked at their normal level of between 40% and 50%”.
A suspension in competition law, he said, “possibly allows the suppliers to put fuel into their competitors’ sites ... and if so, the increased flexibility that that would give the supplying industry would be very welcome”.