[BrianC]

Facing Post-Brexit Petrol Shortage, UK Issues Emergency Visas for EU Truck Drivers (go.com) 213
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday September 26, 2021 @02:34AM from the it's-a-gas-gas-gas dept.
Slashdot reader AleRunner tipped us off to some excitement in the UK:
The British government said on Friday it may draft in the army to help deliver gas after shortages caused by a scarcity of truck drivers forced the closure of stations across the country. The haulage industry said there was a shortfall of some 100,000 drivers, and that could also lead to shortages of turkeys and toys this Christmas. Some 25,000 drivers returned to Europe after Brexit, and the pandemic halted the qualification process for new workers...

Gas is just the latest thing that people in the U.K. are finding hard to come by after its departure from the European Union. Previously McDonald's has been forced to take milkshakes off the menu, KFC has run short on chicken and supermarket shelves have been left bare. The crisis is already beginning to bite in other areas of life, with 18 percent of adults saying they have been unable to buy essential food items in the past two weeks, according to the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics. The pandemic means that many countries are facing supply chain problems, as manufacturing centers in Asia are hit by continuing cases and restrictions.

Now the Associated Press reports the government has decided to issue thousands of emergency visas to foreign truck drivers:
Post-Brexit immigration rules mean newly arrived EU citizens can no longer work visa-free in Britain, as they could when the U.K. was a member of the trade bloc. Trucking companies have been urging the British government to loosen immigration rules so drivers can more easily be recruited from across Europe...

One cause of the trucker shortage is a backlog caused by the suspension of driver testing for months during Britain's coronavirus lockdowns. The government has already increased testing capacity, as well as extending the number of hours that drivers can work each week, prompting safety concerns. The government said military driving examiners would be pulled in to further boost civilian testing capacity.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/21/09/2 ... ck-drivers

[Plantagenet]

There are currently over 1.5 million unemployed people in the UK.

Hopefully some of these unemployed people will complete the training and become truck drivers.

This will help alleviate the Petrol shortage, as well obviate the need for concern over future projected turkey shortages.


To drive trucks or be on the dole....that is the question!

Cheers!

[Newfie]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Tuike]

There was news last spring that U.S. may face fuel shortage in the summer due to driver shortage, but they didn't blame brexit then.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lack-truck-dr ... d=77374905

[BrianC]

UK Electric Car Inquiries Soar During Fuel Supply Crisis (theguardian.com) 41
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @05:00AM from the supply-and-demand dept.
Electric car inquiries are soaring as petrol stations in parts of the UK have started running out of fuel on Friday. The Guardian reports:
While scenes of chaos play out at petrol stations across the country amid shortages, for many electric vehicle (EV) dealers the fuel crisis has led to an unexpected surge in inquiries and sales. EVA England, a non-profit representing new and prospective EV drivers, reports a rise in electric car inquiries and in interest at EV dealers, particularly in the last week. Along with existing factors such as the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone, the fuel crisis has proved to be another trigger point, he said. "People were using it as 'this is the moment where I'm not going to put this off any longer,'" [said Martin Miller, owner of an electric car dealership in Guildford, Surrey].

The EV market is no longer the preserve of innovators and early adopters, he said, with the most popular models the Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen ID 3 and Jaguar I-Pace. Ben Strzalko, the owner of Electric Cars UK in Leyland, Lancashire, said that as a small business it would take a few months to feel the knock-on effect of the fuel crisis on sales. But every time there are problems with petrol or diesel, he said they acted as "one more tick for people making that transition to electric cars." Matt Cleevely, the owner of Cleevely Electric Vehicles in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, which specialises in used EVs, had a surge of inquiries over the weekend and on Monday morning from customers citing the fuel crisis as a reason for switching to electric. He expects enthusiasm to continue rising, with petrol shortages adding "fuel to the fire."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ply-crisis

[Outcast_Searcher]

There was news last spring that U.S. may face fuel shortage in the summer due to driver shortage, but they didn't blame brexit then.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lack-truck-dr ... d=77374905

Whether it was from Brexit (partly) or not, the planning going on re observing trends in fuel supplies in Britian appears to be managed by "The Three Stooges" or folks of similar skills and intelligence.

Surely such figures are tracked, just like they are tracked for the US. Once the trend is down long enough to start being concerning, they should start DOING something before it erupts into an "emergency".

But no, that's too difficult. And then they wonder why people resent their tax dollars being wasted on more and more government to "oversee things", etc.

[evilgenius]

I read that most of this is down to anxiety. People are more anxious. They see a picture of fuel lines, and they have to act. Their anxiety won't let them believe any of the reassurances.

The US did have a problem like this. It was due to the hacker group that hacked the gasoline pipeline and wouldn't give the company the decryption key until they paid. That effected the east coast. Americans panic bought then. That was when this issue of gasoline supplies being adequate, but people's behavior being able to subvert market processes anyway first came up for me.

I know that in the UK the current crisis is exacerbated by a delivery driver shortage. Reports are saying that there would be enough gas, if people didn't panic buy. It seems like a fine call to me. This is another good reason to keep my tank above half all of the time. If it gets below half I fill up. That way, if I am ever caught out, I still have half a tank. I actually do that to promote the life of the fuel pump in my vehicles, but it make sense for this reason too.

[Outcast_Searcher]

I read that most of this is down to anxiety. People are more anxious. They see a picture of fuel lines, and they have to act. Their anxiety won't let them believe any of the reassurances.

The US did have a problem like this. It was due to the hacker group that hacked the gasoline pipeline and wouldn't give the company the decryption key until they paid. That effected the east coast. Americans panic bought then. That was when this issue of gasoline supplies being adequate, but people's behavior being able to subvert market processes anyway first came up for me.

In my 45 years or so of experience where I was paying much attention, this anxiety and short term thinking thing (re "making sure I get mine") is mostly human nature. Whether gas lines, reported TP or catsup shortages, or whatever.

There is NO chance, IMO, of changing that dynamic without Joe 6 pack having a LOT of trust in the system. Given the way things are going with government and industry and people adapting to change, the odds that happens anytime soon is: DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH. (Calculator totally unneccessary).

Maybe their EXPERIENCES re the way government and authority figures behave doesn't give them strong confidence in TPTB assurances. Count me right in there with them. And me believing in neither rapid doom nor corny plenty, BTW.