As the country suffers a huge decline in the number of truck drivers, UK now deploys military drivers to deliver fuel at the pumps. From Monday, the military drivers will be delivering fuel as the pumps across the country face serious stock issues and vehicles being queued up in front of the fuel stations. The panic buying by people is also creating shortages.
Almost 200 military personnel are currently under training for the delivery and half of them are drivers. The authorities had indicated earlier this week about using military to solve supply issues.
The UK’s exit from EU and the ongoing Covid situations are the main reasons of reduced number of truck drivers. Many foreign citizens had to leave the country following Brexit as the rules were tightened up and demanded a valid visa to continue in the state even for the EU nationals. According to the pump owners, the system now has a shortage of at least 100,000 drivers.
Following the outcry from fuel station owners and the public, the government have announced plans to introduce extra 5,000 immediate visas to foreign drivers. Originally the plan was due to expire on December 24 and now has been extended until February 2022.
Earlier a lot of working people including ambulance drivers, nurses and teachers had raised complaints about being queued up for hours to fill fuel at the stations.