Scenes of violence outside the petrol stations – 27% without petrol
27% of service stations in Britain from 37% last Sunday remain without fuel, according to what was announced by the country’s Fuel Retail Association (PRA) and while incidents of incidents outside petrol stations continue unabated.
However, PRA speaks of an improvement in the situation as the specific percentage is decreasing and that in the next 24 hours there will be much more petrol stations (8,380 in total in Britain) that will have fuel.
In its announcement, however, it points out as unacceptable the incidents of verbal and violent attacks faced by staff and employees at petrol stations.
Speaking for the first time since the crisis began, Boris Johnson last night urged angry drivers to remain calm as far west scenes became more and more popular at petrol stations across the country.
Quarrels were reported which soon ended in punches and there was an incident in which one driver threatened the other with a knife.
The increasingly violent situation raises fears among police that its men may be dragged into forced patrols outside petrol stations if the crisis continues.
In an effort to tackle fuel shortages in Britain immediately, 150 army drivers are already being trained in fuel tankers owned by fuel companies and by the end of the week they will be ready to transport them into the urban fabric.
UK Business Secretary Kwasi Quarteng even said that “in the next couple of days” the British will see soldiers driving fuel tankers to refuel the stations.
The British government’s decision comes on the sixth day of fuel shortages due to a shortage of tanker drivers, which has led to long queues of vehicles outside service stations and tensions between drivers.
The Minister admitted that the last days were “difficult”, but assessed that the situation “stabilizes”.
Mr. Quarteng also announced that from this afternoon, tankers of the government reserve tanker fleet will be mobilized, led by civilian personnel, in order to increase the deliveries to petrol stations.
However, Mr. Quarteng said that he could not guarantee that the fuel crisis and the general lack of drivers and other human resources in the store supply chain would not affect the market at Christmas.