\n\n“A combination of factors are driving (heh) the United Kingdom\u2019s fuel \u2014 or petrol, as it\u2019s called \u2014 shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were disruptions in fuel delivery<\/a>, but Brits\u2019 desperation to get gas appears to be causing the current crisis. People are rushing to fill up their tanks because they are worried there willbe a big shortage, and that is straining the available supply. Florian L\u00fccker, a senior lecturer in supply chain management at the Bayes Business School at City, University of London, compared it to the US\u2019sgreat toilet paper stockpiling<\/a> at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have potential delays in supplies of fuel, among other things,\u201d said Joanna Clifton-Sprigg, an assistant professor in economics at the University of Bath. \u201cBut it wouldn\u2019t have been so bad if we all didn\u2019t suddenly decide to go to a petrol station and fill the tanks to the full in every car we own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why people were panic-buying gas in the first place is a bit more complicated. It\u2019s not because of a national lack of fuel or gas. The UK has enough supply. It\u2019s because there is a shortage of truck drivers<\/a> able to deliver it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dearth of drivers isn\u2019t exclusively a UK problem, it\u2019s a global one<\/a>, as the commercial trucking industry is struggling to recruit new workers for what is an extremely grueling job \u2014 long hours on the road, poor infrastructure to sleep or go to the bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing a truck driver is a really hard job,\u201d said Dmitry Grozoubinski, director of the consultancy ExplainTrade. \u201cIt\u2019s not hugely social. It\u2019s not particularly high status. And in a lot of cases, it wasn\u2019t supremely well paid.\u201d The industry skews old, and many drivers are retiring, and though the UK is urging drivers with experience to come back<\/a>, the often poor conditions and benefits are keeping people away. Add to that Covid-19 pandemic disruptions, which in the UK were particularly acute because the country suspended the testing process for truck drivers during lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK trucking industry is also dealing with something that exists nowhere else: Brexit. The United Kingdom\u2019s exit<\/a> from the European Union has exacerbated the crisis. Or more specifically, the version of Brexit pursued by Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s government has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are some signs that the immediate fuel crisis may be waning soon<\/a>, and the UK government has put soldiers on standby<\/a> to haul fuel, as needed. Johnson\u2019s government has proposed a plan to bring in 5,000 foreign truck drivers through short-term temporary visas<\/a> in an attempt to make up the shortfall. But that might not be enough to fill labor gaps the UK is experiencing<\/a>, and Brexit \u2014 and the ideas behind Brexit \u2014 may make it harder to find long-term fixes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Pay for truck drivers isn\u2019t always commensurate with the demanding nature of the work. The job became less appealing to Brits, and so like a lot of industries, companies sought to fill their ranks with workers from elsewhere. Wealthier countries in the EU have often relied on workers from poorer EU member states, and those workers could drive a truck in the UK or Germany and take home way more money than they\u2019d be able to earn in, say, Poland.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “the Brexit deal negotiated with the EU created more friction between the two partners. That, too, was a deliberate choice<\/a>, and has added a layer of red tape to the trading relationship. It may make it less attractive to be a trucker in the UK than in the EU and more difficult for EU truckers<\/a> to make up some of the shortfall the UK is experiencing. \u201cWhat Brexit has meant is that the UK no longer enjoys the way that the EU pooled resources and moved stuff around in order to take the edge off those problems,\u201d Grozoubinski said.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It has also been difficult to untangle the current rules from the anti-immigration sentiment that accompanied Brexit. People may not want to come to work in the UK where there is a sense they aren\u2019t as welcome or won\u2019t be able to settle in the UK. That unease may have prompted some truck drivers to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, according to Elizabeth de Jong, the policy director at Logistics UK<\/a>, the pandemic just made everything worse, as people may have just gone back to their home countries during the lockdowns. \u201cThe thing that has changed because of the EU exit is that we would normally be able to just bring them back, and you can\u2019t just bring them back or recruit more from the EU,\u201d de Jong said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t got that option anymore.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n