British troops will begin driving fuel tankers to filling stations later this week as panic buying continued with some forecourts running out of supplies.
This is what Sky News reported on Wednesday, citing a defence source.
“A senior defence source says troops are set to start driving fuel lorries to petrol stations later this week after the Ministry of Defence approved an official request for assistance,” Sky News tweeted.
A post-Brexit shortage of lorry drivers – estimated to be around 100,000 – as the COVID-19 pandemic eases has sown chaos through British supply chains in everything from food to fuel.
And it has raised the spectre of disruptions and price rises in the run-up to Christmas.
The British government on Sunday announced a plan to issue temporary visas for 5,000 foreign truck drivers as a response to the acute shortfall of truck drivers that made gas station pumps run dry in cities across the country.
The visas will expire on December 24.