Supermarkets and petrol companies issue update on current fuel situation

As frantic motorists across the region continue to panic buy and stockpile fuel, supermarkets and petrol companies have issued an update on the so-called ‘fuel shortage crisis’.

Now, this fiasco has never been about a shortage of petrol – it is about a shortage of HGV drivers, the very thing that has been causing minor food shortages in supermarkets and restaurants. Three of the UK’s biggest petrol suppliers did initially report some fuel shortages as a result of the driver crisis; however, only a small fraction of their petrol stations were actually impacted.

But this hasn’t stopped thousands of drivers descending into a panic and rushing to their local petrol station to stock up on fuel, causing lengthy queues and, ironically, the actual shortage of petrol in a number of stations across not only Manchester, but the rest of the country.

Well, amid the frenzy and the chaos, supermarkets and petrol companies have now given an update on the ‘crisis’ and have urged people to stop panic buying.

Firstly, a Tesco spokesperson acknowledged that while the supermarket chain is experiencing ‘temporary outages in a small number of areas’, there is no need to panic buy and stockpile fuel, saying: “We have good availability of fuel, and we’re working really hard to ensure regular deliveries to our petrol filling stations across the UK every day.”

A Morrisons spokesperson also said: “It is a rapidly moving situation and we are working hard with our suppliers to ensure we can continue to keep our pumps open and serve our customers.”

Similarly, a BP spokesman said: “We are experiencing fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites. This is being caused by a shortage of qualified drivers. The majority of the 1200 sites we supply remain supplied and open.

“However, at the moment we estimate that 10 to 15 per cent of sites in this network currently may not have one grade of fuel or another.”

A spokesperson for Shell added: “We are working hard to ensure supplies for customers. Since Friday we have been seeing a higher-than-normal demand across our network which is resulting in some sites running low on some grades.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also weighed into the equation during a TV appearance this morning, saying: “The good news is there is plenty of fuel, the bad news is if everyone carries on buying it when they don’t need it then we will continue to have queues.”