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The best reactions to the ‘not a fuel shortage’ fuel shortage and visas for HGV drivers

Oonagh Keating. Updated September 26th, 2021

Hot on the heels of the UK home energy infrastructure coming under pressure from rising natural gas prices, causing the collapse of some providers, a new gas problem has reared its head – chaotic petrol distribution.

Panic buying

What began as a handful of BP stations closing due to a failure of the supply chain, itself caused by the 90-100,000 shortfall in HGV drivers in the UK, was ramped up into a full-blown crisis when ministers instructed people not to panic-buy petrol.

via Gfycat

In news that surprised nobody, people panicked, pushing the fragile distribution system off a cliff.

The phrase ‘perfect storm’ is doing some seriously heavy lifting right now, but the shortage of drivers at the heart of both this problem and empty shelves in supermarkets has been attributed to several factors –

The average age of drivers being too high, leading to mass retirements

Low wages

Poor conditions

The pandemic, including furlough

Brexit

“No shortage”

That last one has been repeatedly denied by Brexiters, who were also quick to point out that there isn’t a shortage of petrol.

Or, to put it another way –

via Gfycat

People were completely convinced, and the panic is over now. Oh, wait – no, they weren’t.

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