Police are called in to control forecourts as NHS and care staff can't fill up

Police have been called in to control forecourts amid Britain's ongoing fuel crisis as panic-buying reached fever pitch with shortages and painful queues for the pumps expected to last for the rest of the week and Boris Johnson resisting calls to immediately bring in the Army to drive tankers.

Tens of thousands more Britons are working from home today as the fuel crisis saw up to nine in ten forecourts run dry leaving NHS staff including doctors and nurses as well as care workers without petrol and schools planning a return to online learning because teachers can't fill up their cars. 

There are growing calls for critical workers to get priority access to forecourts this week. 

Police officers were pictured at a north London Esso garage directing traffic, with all approaches to the station blocked by a huge queue of cars. 

John Apter, the national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said officers are having to go to petrol stations to make sure people are 'behaving sensibly'. He said: 'People are panic buying fuel and this is putting a strain on policing in a number of ways.

'Police officers are having to attend petrol stations to ensure people are behaving sensibly. They also must get to and from their place of work, and this is being increasingly inhibited as they struggle to fuel vehicles.

'The government needs to give urgent consideration as to how my colleagues and other emergency workers can get the fuel they need to travel to work and do their job.'

It came as Halfords revealed the sale of jerry cans went up 1,656 per cent over the weekend, and a driver was filmed filling water bottles with petrol. 

Gavin Rabbitt stopped at Shell garage in Cobham Services on the M25 yesterday and sat in disbelief as he watched a woman empty two 1.5litre water bottles and then fill them up with fuel - seemingly unaware the bottle could explode, or melt, because it is not a vessel to legally carry petrol. 

Mr Rabbitt, from Tonbridge, Kent, who filmed the woman seemingly filling up water bottles with petrol, said: 'I thought ''I can't believe the stupidity of this woman''. This is the kind of thing that causes the problem. People filling up things they shouldn't be filling up and no one else can get the fuel because of other people's stupidity. The queue was all the way down the slip road. We were queuing for about 20 to 30 minutes. She was all blasé and doing it right in front of me. It's ludicrous.' 

And it is proving so difficult to get fuel, thieves have been siphoning it from cars, sometimes drilling into the petrol tank, Shadrack Olaloko, from Birmingham, said: 'What these guys did was they came and drained out all my fuel in the tank'. 

Britain's biggest petrol retailers have said they expect the crisis to ease in the next three days because once people have a full tank, demand for fuel is likely to fall away by Thursday or Friday. And Downing Street again denied there is a shortage of fuel, saying there are 'ample stocks in this country'.

But claims that the crisis will be over this week has been questioned by drivers. One said; 'If there was a delivery driver shortage last week, causing some stations to run out, how will that be miraculously resolved by the middle of this week? Some garages around London were out of fuel even before panic buying kicked in'. Another wrote: 'It's hard to rebuild confidence again when this kind of thing starts. People will just keeping topping up their cars and never let them go below a quarter for a long time'. 

And as the Prime Minister considered emergency plans to halt the petrol panic, Environment Secretary George Eustice has said the Government has 'no plans at the moment' to use soldiers to drive petrol tankers amid continuing shortages at filling stations. He said: 'We've no plans at the moment to bring in the Army to actually do the driving, but we always have a Civil Contingencies section within the Army on standby - but we're not jumping to that necessarily at the moment.'

The British Medical Association (BMA) has this afternoon called for healthcare staff and essential workers to be given priority to access fuel, warning that as pumps run dry 'there is a real risk that NHS staff won't be able to do their jobs'.  

Drivers queued for four hours or more in lines stretching for miles and some even slept in their cars outside petrol stations.  

Electrician Roland McKibbin, 31, from Beckenham, south-east London, said he would only be able to reach one of his jobs on Monday having been unable to fill up his tank, despite visiting four petrol stations.  He said: 'So, basically, the panic-buying idiots have lost me income, and directly taken food off the table for my wife and five-year old son, because I can't wire people's houses from home, unfortunately. I wasted about 15 miles of fuel looking - in the end I had to turn back as I was on fumes.' 

As the fuel crisis continues, it also emerged today: 

Some care workers, NHS staff and taxi drivers are unable to fill up at petrol stations, London mayor Sadiq Khan has said;  Fears have been growing over the fuel crisis sparking school closures and care home food shortages; The Road Haulage Association wrote to Boris Johnson warning of 'critical supply chains failing' in June, but they claim their call for temporary worker visas was 'ignored'; And EU lorry drivers union says: 'We will not go back to England to help them get out of the s**t they created themselves'; Grant Shapps said he was sending SOS letters to one million HGV licence holders asking them to return to work; Experts warned panic buying 'is going to get worse before it gets better' as UK faces a 'catastrophic situation'; In more rush hour misery for motorists, Insulate Britain today defied a court injunction to block the M25 for a sixth time this morning; 

Karenza Passmore, 55, from Langley Park in County Durham, is the director of the North East Religious Resources centre, an educational charity.

She said she was unable to drive to work on Monday, while the charity may be unable to move resources - such as books and artefacts - to schools and faith groups. 'Yesterday I used 30 (miles) trying to find some diesel but there was no fuel,' she said.

Colin Owens, who runs Oil 4 Wales petrol stations in Wales, has said panic buying is completely unnecessary as 'refinery tanks are full', adding that panic buying has seen sales reach five times the levels of last week.

Boris Johnson has said he could call in the Army to deliver petrol and diesel across Britain amid a crisis that has seen competition laws suspended to allow businesses such as Shell and BP to share drivers.

But his plan to bring in 5,000 foreign lorry drivers to deal with the shortage suffered a major blow after the head of an EU truck union declaring they 'will not go to the UK for a short term visa to help UK out of the s**t they created themselves'. Edwin Atema, who represents drivers across the EU and Europe said: 'Before the coronavirus crisis and Brexit this industry was sick already. Plagued by expectation, by irresponsible multinationals who drag down prices, which ended up with drivers voting with their feet and leaving the industry'. 

A lack of fuel has led to a mass return to working from home today, just weeks after the Government lifted most coronavirus-related legislation to get more people into the office. TomTom traffic data revealed that congestion is down today in all major cities compared to when the chaos began last week.

And petrol stations with a fresh delivery of fuel have already been accused of of hiking fuel prices to as high as £1.57 per litre - up from the national average of £1.35 last week -  and another 10p price rise could be on the way, experts have warned, as some garages sold out of fuel in an hour this morning.

Schools have said they will return to the online classrooms used in lockdown if teachers can't get to work - with some parents also unable to drive - while many petrol stations are now prioritising NHS workers in special two-hour slots where they must show ID to fill up. The manager of a petrol station near Heathrow Airport said staff had been forced to close the toilets to stop customers waiting there for pumps to reopen.

One school in Surrey wrote to parents over the weekend saying: 'The current petrol crisis could potentially disrupt school next week. The ability of staff and pupils to get to school may be compromised and there may also be issues with our food deliveries.  Clearly, we have no desire to go back online so soon after the challenges of the last couple of years but we cannot exclude the possibility that it may be necessary'.

One headteacher tweeted: 'This is actually going to be a problem. I don't have any fuel myself and all the stations in my area are out of diesel. Most of my teachers commute further than ten miles to work'. Desperate motorists have even started following fuel delivery drivers to petrol stations, earning the nickname 'tanker w***ers' from critics, as panic buying continues across the UK with fights even breaking out at the pumps. 

One Twitter user said: 'My brother in law is a lorry driver and delivers fuel. He's on the road now and there are people following him - literally tracking his every turn - in cars. He says it's like end of days'. He added: 'I worried it might be really scary for him, but he just thinks they're all kn*bs'. 

Ministers will consider drafting in troops to deliver petrol and diesel later this week if panic-buying persists, sources said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said designated petrol stations should be reserved for essential workers.

He said: 'As the current reductions in fuel delivery affect petrol stations across the capital, it is essential that key workers are able to get fuel to travel to work and provide the services our city needs.

'In the fuel crisis of September 2000, the government brought in rules designating specific filling stations for essential workers, enabling the capital to keep moving.

'The Government must urgently look at taking the necessary steps putting such measures in place, so that those key workers who have to drive to work can do so.

'We will continue to monitor developments closely and advise the Government on required actions.'

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for healthcare staff and essential workers to be given priority to access fuel, warning that as pumps run dry 'there is a real risk that NHS staff won't be able to do their jobs'.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of council at the BMA, said: 'Emergency and essential workers rely on fuel both to travel to work and for their work itself - whether this is to get to hospitals, practices and other healthcare settings, or for ambulances to reach people in urgent need of care and GPs to visit very ill patients at home.

'Everyone will have their own reasons for needing to fill up, but as pumps run dry there is a real risk that NHS staff won't be able to do their jobs and provide vital services and care to people who urgently need it.

'While the Government has said it is putting plans in place to alleviate the shortage of HGV drivers to transport fuel, the results of this won't be immediate. Healthcare and essential workers must therefore be given priority access to fuel so they can continue their crucial work and guarantee care to patients.' 

One worker has said people panic-buying have 'directly taken food off the table' of his wife and son, as many struggled to commute without any fuel.

Queues stretched out from petrol stations at the weekend as panic-buying added to fuel supply issues caused by a lack of HGV drivers.

A petrol station worker said the demand for fuel has been 'unprecedented' at his small local garage and that shop sales have 'tanked' following a weekend of panic-buying.

Yasser Ahmed, 37, who runs West Drayton service station with his father, said his four-pump station had gone through 30,000 litres of fuel - the amount it would usually sell in a whole week - in just two days.

'That's completely not normal,' he said.

'Yesterday we didn't open up, we lost a whole day yesterday, today dad is in, only because we have a lot of regular customers from the local community who are going to work and want to grab their coffee first in the morning.

'That's the only reason we opened up. We're not selling anything inside, our shop sales have tanked.

'People are saying on social media that petrol station owners are doing really well and making a lot of money - we're not. We make our money from shop sales, and they're gone.'

Mr Ahmed said he had placed an order immediately on Friday afternoon but was still waiting on confirmation of another fuel delivery for Wednesday.

'We're a family-run business, just myself and my dad, so we're going to have to work however we can,' he told the PA news agency.

'It's like in the pandemic, we just did what we needed to do to get by.

'Everyone is panic-buying through fear that it's going to run out and, because of that, it actually has run out.'

Electrician Roland McKibbin, 31, from Beckenham, south-east London, said he would only be able to reach one of his jobs on Monday having been unable to fill up his tank, despite visiting four petrol stations.

'I rely on fuel to travel to jobs - no fuel means I can't drive, which means I can't get to jobs with my tools,' he told the PA news agency.

'So, basically, the panic-buying idiots have lost me income, and directly taken food off the table for my wife and five-year old son, because I can't wire people's houses from home, unfortunately.

'I wasted about 15 miles of fuel looking - in the end I had to turn back as I was on fumes.'

Mr McKibbin said being unable to travel would cost him 'at least £200 for the day' while he will have to cancel jobs on Tuesday if he cannot fill up before then.

'We've been left at the short end of the stick along with ambulance staff etc,' he said.

The Environment Secretary George Eustice said there were 'no plans at the moment' to use the Army to drive petrol tankers amid continuing shortages at filling stations, after Boris Johnson was thought to be considering sending in troops.

Karenza Passmore, 55, from Langley Park in County Durham, is the director of the North East Religious Resources centre, an educational charity.

She said she was unable to drive to work on Monday, while the charity may be unable to move resources - such as books and artefacts - to schools and faith groups.

'Yesterday I used 30 (miles) trying to find some diesel but there was no fuel,' she told PA.

'The nearest garage to me is four miles so it's a risk now, (chancing) my arm to see if the fuel stations have any in.

'Today I was due to see a colleague in the office - (I'm) going to have to cancel and do it online, hoping things settle and I can fill up soon.

'I don't want to add to the hype - I am sure that things will settle as they did with loo rolls and food on shelves - but the lack of planning and infrastructure for a clearly foreseeable problem is so disappointing.'

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced on Sunday he was temporarily suspending competition laws to allow the industry to share information so it can target areas where fuel supply is running low.

The move came after the Prime Minister Mr Johnson said the Government was creating 5,000 three-month visas for foreign lorry drivers in an attempt to ease the pressure on hauliers which has been blamed over the problems.

A statement by Shell, ExxonMobile and other industry bodies again insisted there was no 'national shortage of fuel' and that the pressures on supply were the result of 'temporary spikes in customer demand'.

Alireza Ghazal, 19, a student from Hayes in west London, said: 'I have been on the search for fuel for three days now and it's all been in vain.

'I was really excited to go back into university and start my social life up again and attend lectures after a year of staying at home.

'I have probably lost more fuel looking for fuel. This is a disgrace that a first world country is running into shortages like this.

'I have had to ration my petrol to last as long as it can, but to be honest it's most likely going to end before the end of today.'

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has agreed to implement a measure to temporarily exempt the oil industry from the Competition Act 1998, as part of a plan called the Downstream Oil Protocol, for the purpose of sharing information and optimising supply.

Officials said the measure will make it easier for industry to share information so that they can prioritise the delivery of fuel to the parts of the country and strategic locations that are most in need.   

Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents 5,500 independent stations, told LBC some petrol brands are seeing between 50% and 90% of their sites running dry. 

He said: 'We did a straw poll yesterday morning of a number of our members who have around 200 sites between them.

'Fifty per cent of those we spoke to said their sites were dry and some actually said 90 per cent of their sites were dry, so it is on a company-by-company basis and almost on a brand-by-brand basis because some oil companies are still relatively okay in terms of deliveries.'

When asked about possible Government plans to grant temporary visas to get more HGV drivers, Mr Balmer said: 'We are a fuel retailing trade association, not a logistics company, but I would have thought anything like that is going to help, but from what I hear maybe that's not enough, so I know the Government are looking at other measures such as drafting in military drivers.

'What we're hoping is a lot of people have filled up over the weekend, a lot of people only fill up once a month, that might give us some respite to start to replenish stocks over the next few days.'

A suspension to competition law to assist with fuel supplies would be 'very welcome', Brian Madderson of the Petrol Retailers Association has said.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Madderson said that in Northern Ireland 'there does not seem to be a problem at all with supply and retail outlets, so the problem is confined to the mainland'.

He said: 'With the problem of dry sites, we're really talking more about the concentrated urban areas than we are the rural areas at this stage'.

He said dry sites 'are being restocked at the present time but the number of tankers that they're receiving are below the number that they need to be properly restocked at their normal level of between 40% and 50%'.

A suspension in competition law, he said, 'possibly allows the suppliers to put fuel into their competitors' sites ... and if so, the increased flexibility that that would give the supplying industry would be very welcome'.

He added: 'It will be complicated.' Asked if the move is a game-changer, he said: 'No, it's just one of the helps.'

Kevin Hughes, manager at Chaddesley fuel station in Kidderminster, told BBC Breakfast this morning that he had seen queues of at a least a quarter of a mile last week.

He said: 'It all got very, very silly on Friday. We've had a very, very tough time over the past 18 months, but not seen anything like this at all.

'Massive queues - there is no reason to panic buy. We have got plenty of fuel. Most of the customers have been very, very good, but trying to martial them and keep the road open has been interesting.

'Nobody's putting in £5 worth. It's just a case of trying to get people parked up properly, moving along and organised and get them through as quickly as we can. The team in the shop have been absolutely flat out getting people through and that's all we can do.

He added that the fuel station was prioritising NHS workers, saying: 'We have done. Last Saturday evening we had an hour and a half when we stayed open extra and the uptake on that was absolutely brilliant.

'The comments we've had on the Facebook page have been wonderful. Depending on how the situation goes, we're going to assess if we need to do it. So we don't know what's going to happen today – it's going to be interesting.'