Calls to prioritise key workers as UK fuel prices hit eight-year high

THE UK government on Tuesday (28) faced calls for nurses, police and other key workers to be given priority at petrol pumps, as the army was put on standby to ease a fuel supply crisis.

Pump prices for fuel in the UK have reached their highest level in eight years as petrol stations run dry amid panic buying, The Guardian reported.

Figures from the RAC show the average price of a litre of petrol rose from 135.9p on Friday (24) to 136.6p on Sunday (26), the highest level since September 2013, as motorists scrambled to fill up their vehicles, the report added.

Meanwhile, UK transport minister pleaded with drivers on Tuesday to refrain from filling up old water bottles with fuel at gas stations after panic buying left pumps dry across major cities.

"We're starting to see very tentative signs of stabilisation which won't yet be reflected in the queues," Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky. He added that reserves at many gas stations had been replenished.

"The sooner we all return to our normal buying habits, the quicker this gets resolved - and I do appeal to the public to do that. In particular, no more water bottles at petrol stations: its dangerous and not helpful."

Filling stations across the country have seen long, snaking queues of frustrated motorists concerned that a shortage of tanker drivers could lead to pumps running dry.

But four days of panic-buying, even as the government insisted there was no shortage of fuel stocks, has left some frontline public sector workers unable to get to work.

The deputy chair of the British Medical Association, David Wrigley, called for "urgent action from the government today" to give healthcare workers priority access to fuel.

"We can't be waiting in queues for two or three hours for petrol or diesel when we have patients to see," he told Times Radio, as unions called for emergency powers to be used.

Patricia Marquis, director for England at the Royal College of Nursing, said the National Health service "cannot afford to lose any more staff because they're unable to travel".

"We already know some nursing staff are warning their employers they may not be able to attend tomorrow," she added.

The government maintains that a lack of tanker drivers to deliver fuel and unprecedented demand is behind the crisis, and the situation was likely to ease in the coming days.

Despite repeated denials throughout the day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson late Monday (27) announced that troops had been put on alert to step in if required.

Major fuel retailers, including BP, Shell and Esso, issued a statement on Monday evening suggesting queues at forecourts were likely to ease now most people had filled their tanks and urged the public to return to normal fuel-buying patterns.

As well as tanker drivers, the UK also has a shortage of truck drivers, with the resulting empty supermarket shelves and delivery delays stoking fears of Christmas shortages.

The government insists Europe is facing the same problem and has eased its post-Brexit immigration rules in the hope of enticing foreign truckers back.

But critics say the country's departure from the EU that took full effect in January, combined with the pandemic, is to blame, as thousands of overseas drivers returned home.

The main opposition Labour party's home affairs spokesman, Nick Thomas-Symonds, accused the government of "utter incompetence" and blamed it on its "handling of Brexit".

"The blame lies squarely with them, it lies with no-one else," he added.