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Government tankers stand idle as fuel crisis continues in London and South East

Fuel tankers from the Government’s emergency fleet have been pictured standing idle despite the ongoing crisis at forecourts across London and the South East.

Retailers questioned why around 30 government-owned trucks were still parked in a storage yard when some garages had been without fuel for up to nine days.

Military personnel from the Army and RAF began delivering fuel on Monday morning as industry chiefs said there had been a “marked improvement” in supplies across most of the country. The boost led the EG Group to remove a £30 cap at its petrol stations.

However, the Petrol Retailers Association said the situation in London and the South East, where around 20pc of forecourts ran dry on Monday, was still “challenging”, adding that it could take “a week to 10 days” for fuel to return to normal levels.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, last week announced the deployment of a fleet of tankers kept in reserve by the Government in case of a national emergency.

“I can confirm the Government’s reserve tanker fleet will be on the road this afternoon to boost deliveries of fuel to forecourts across Britain,” Mr Kwarteng tweeted on Sep 29. “The trucks are driven by civilians and will provide additional logistical capacity to the fuel industry.”

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Around 40 of the white tankers – thought to be half the total fleet – are kept at a depot in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire. On Monday morning, around 30 vehicles were seen standing idle at the yard.

Government sources pointed out that the tankers had been made available for fuel companies to lease using their own drivers. “If companies need additional tankers, they can lease vehicles from the fleet – and many have,” one source said.

Industry sources said the situation was “extremely fluid” and insisted every effort was being made to deliver fuel to affected areas as swiftly as possible. “We don’t have enough drivers, and the tankers can’t drive themselves,” one source said.

Brian Madderson, the chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), urged the Government and fuel suppliers to work together to get more of the reserve tankers out on the roads.

“It’s extremely disappointing that so much of the reserve fleet is being unused when some of our members haven’t had any fuel for nine days,” he said.

According to a PRA survey, 52 per cent of sites in London and the South East had both grades of fuel available on Monday, while 18 per cent had only one grade and 20 per cent were dry.

In the rest of the country, the PRA said 86 per cent of sites had both grades of fuel “thanks to steady deliveries and stabilising demand”, with six per cent having only one grade and eight per cent being dry.

A number of tankers from the reserve fleet are understood to have been driven by the military on Monday, with 46 on the roads by mid-afternoon.

Members of the Armed Forces arrived at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead on Monday to help deliver fuel, with soldiers in uniform and wearing face masks seen walking near the gates to the Hertfordshire oil storage terminal.

Members of the Armed Forces arrived at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg© Provided by The Telegraph Members of the Armed Forces arrived at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead – Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Almost 200 military personnel were due to be deployed from Monday, including 100 drivers. By the end of this week it is expected that 150 crews will be delivering fuel across the UK. Each driver has been given refresher training in forecourt manoeuvres by Hoyer, a fuel delivery firm.

The majority of the first tranche of military personnel are being deployed to terminals that service London and the South East, targeting the areas most in need of support.

David Charman, the director of Parkfoot Garage in West Malling, Kent, said customers queuing to buy petrol are “not panic buying any more and are people “have waited as long as they possibly can” and now have no fuel left.

Mr Charman said petrol stations need “a huge influx” of fuel deliveries to “ensure that we can get through this”, adding: “This is no longer about competition between us and others – this is about satisfying customers that desperately need to get to work and desperately need to perform the functions that they do for the country.”

A government spokesman said: “The Reserve Fuel Tanker fleet is available for industry to draw on when required. If companies need additional tankers, they can lease vehicles from the fleet.

“Industry is best placed to direct resources needed to address spikes in demand – and they already are, with deliveries of fuel to forecourts consistently above normal levels over the past few days.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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