Huge queues have developed at petrol stations across London tonight causing traffic ‘chaos’ for motorists.
One video showed the ‘absolute chaos’ at a BP petrol station on Russell Lane, Barnet, as motorists waited in massive queues for petrol.
This comes after BP said it had closed a “handful” of its petrol forecourts on Thursday due to a lack of available fuel. A “small number” of Tesco filling stations have also been affected, according to Esso owner ExxonMobil.
Although there is not a shortage of petrol and diesel in the UK, there is a shortage of fuel at petrol pumps.
READ MORE:Petrol station queues: ‘Desperate’ drivers block cars and ‘square up’ to one another as garages run out of fuel
Queues outside an Asda filling station today in London (September 24)
(Image: @Lebourlingueur)
This is due to the lack of HGV drivers, which is causing issues with transporting fuel from distribution terminals to forecourts.
The ongoing shortage of HGV drivers has caused chaos for supermarkets, restaurants and retailers throughout the summer.
Videos shared online showed the traffic chaos caused by motorists queuing up for petrol across London.
One motorist tweeted: “Absolute chaos at #BP Russell Lane with the petrol panic buyers here at #petrolshortage #London #PetrolStation.”
Another claimed: “No unleaded petrol at Arnos Grove BP, Bounds Green BP, Conley Hatch Lane Shell, or Colney Hatch Tesco’s or BP Russell Lane BP, North London has run dry.”
North London is not the only area in the capital where motorists are waiting in queues for petrol.
One Twitter user said he saw queues “stretching back hundreds of metres” in South London.
The user wrote: “Drove back through South London and Surrey this evening. Every single petrol station has queues stretching back hundreds of metres. Glad the Government said “no need to panic buy”.
“It’s like they’ve not learnt a thing the last 2 years.”
Another user shared the massive queues outside a petrol station in Bermondsey that had “blocked up the junction.”
Areas of west London were also affected with queues of motorists seen at petrol pumps.
One user tweeted: “The gov says don’t panic buy petrol and what does everyone in our local area do?
“This is the petrol queue by our local Tesco in West London. Queue stretches all along the main big road too, near the M4.
“I’m glad I don’t drive.”
The shortage of HGV drivers is thought to be the result of post-Brexit immigration rules and self-isolation requirements.
Yesterday, Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association trade body said there was a shortage of “100,000” drivers.
“When you think that everything we get in Britain comes on the back of a lorry, whether it’s fuel or food or clothes or whatever it is, at some point, if there are no drivers to drive those trucks, the trucks aren’t moving and we’re not getting our stuff,” he told BBC’s Newsnight.
He added: “I don’t think we are talking about absolutely no fuel or food or anything like that, people shouldn’t panic buy food or fuel or anything else, that’s not what this is about.
“This is about stock outs, it’s about shortages, it’s about a normal supply chain being disrupted.”
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Yesterday the BP’s head of UK retail, Hanna Hofer, told a meeting organised by the Cabinet Office that the company was preparing to restrict deliveries of fuel, according to ITV News.
Hanna said it was important the government understood the “urgency of the situation” which she reportedly described as “bad, very bad”.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, tried to dissuade drivers from panic buying petrol and said today that motorists should “carry on as normal”.
“The advice would be to carry on as normal, and that is what BP is saying as well,” he told Sky News.
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