The Irish owner of a fuel tanker business operating in the UK says his drivers have had to refill their own cars at his depots because of panic-buying at British filling stations.
Andrew Reynolds of Dublin-based Reynolds Logistics, which supplies major fuel retailers across Britain, said the whole UK fuel industry was "stressed" as a result of the long queues at petrol station forecourts over the past week.
He said that demand for fuel had gone “skyrocketing” and he had not witnessed the industry as disrupted as this in his 25 years in the business.
Post-Brexit red tape, the Covid-19 pandemic and backlogs in driving tests have led to a shortage of lorry drivers resulting in a surge in demand for fuel.
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Panic-buying has led to petrol station closures and even aggressive scenes between motorists as tensions flare as customers search for fuel and wait in long queues.
More than 2,000 British fuel stations were still dry on Thursday due to a shortage of lorry drivers that has started to disrupt other sectors, including deliveries to pharmacies.
“There is no shortage of fuel. It is just pure panic-buying and queues of cars. We saw a 200 per cent to 500 per cent increase in sales over the weekend,” said Mr Reynolds. “No supply chain can cope with those extreme changes.”
The company had to make fuel available to its own lorry drivers last weekend so they could get to depots to be able to deliver fuel in tankers to petrol stations.
“We had drivers in their own private cars who were struggling to find fuel to come to work. We have enabled them to refuel at the depots where possible to make sure they have fuel in their cars, otherwise they cannot get to work,” he said.
Reynolds Logistics employs about 180 drivers in the UK, of which some 100 could be on the road at any one time. “If we had 300 drivers, we still wouldn’t have enough,” he said. “Everybody is looking for more.”
Increased wages
The shortage of drivers has meant that large UK supermarket retailers are paying increased wages, poaching drivers from within the same diminished pool.
Mr Reynolds said that the company has been forced to pay joining bonuses of £1,500 (€1,740) and 20 per cent more pay to attract drivers. He is even offering his own drivers bonuses if they can recommend other drivers to join the business.
“It is somewhat Brexit-related and somewhat Covid-related: Brexit makes it impossible for new drivers to come to the UK and Covid meant that eastern European drivers couldn’t go home for a year and when they got home, they stayed,” he said.
“There has been a shortage of drivers for a long time. Now that seems to really come to roost all of a sudden. It is hard to put your finger on one individual cause for this.”
