London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Petrol driver shortage: No improvement in supplies, say retailers

Petrol driver shortage: No improvement in supplies, say retailers

There has been no improvement in petrol supplies at independent petrol stations since Wednesday, according to industry body the Petrol Retailers Association.

The PRA, which represents independent fuel retailers, said that more than a quarter (27%) of its members' were still out of fuel on Thursday.

That was better than the 37% which were out of fuel on Tuesday, but demand remained higher than usual, it said.

However the AA said it saw signs that the pressure was starting to ease.

The PRA, which represents nearly 5,500 of the UK's 8,300 petrol stations, said Thursday's figures were based on responses from 1,500 stations.

"Trying to calm this down appears to be a monumental task at the moment," said PRA chairman Brian Madderson.

"The surge in demand appears to be continuing," he said. "There's been no easing off of the pressure from drivers wanting to refuel whenever they can, wherever they can."

The UK has been grappling with a fuel crisis that has caused huge queues outside some petrol stations, and forced customers to drive round multiple sites in search of supplies.

While the government and industry said there was enough fuel at UK refineries, a shortage of drivers has slowed the transport of fuel to petrol stations.

The government said it was seeing the "first signs" of demand for fuel stabilising, and stressed there was no shortage of fuel.

Turned a corner


The AA also said it saw signs that the pressure on fuel pumps was starting to ease.

The motoring group said that the number of call-outs from drivers who had run out of fuel had initially increased sharply and was "in the hundreds" over the weekend. But it said those numbers were now falling rapidly.

Although some queues remain in London, the South East and some other built-up areas, AA president Edmund King said daily improvements were now visible.

"We believe we have turned the corner," he said.

The PRA told the BBC that it had also received "anecdotal" evidence that the problems were more acute in London and the South East. It said that Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales appeared to be "mostly ok".

Price rises


The PRA's Mr Madderson said he had written to the government this morning to warn them that the price of petrol and diesel at the pump was likely to rise, after a rise in the price of Brent Crude oil. A fall in the value of the pound against the dollar would also push up prices for UK customers, he said.

"Those two [factors] have already started to impinge on wholesale prices, which have gone up - in the last three nights - by nearly 3p a litre," he said.

Government plans to use the army to address some of the delivery problems in the coming days would help to ease the problems, Mr Madderson said, but the main thing that was required was a change in public behaviour.

"Let's just try and calm it down please," he said.

He said he understood that the army could be helping with deliveries by the weekend.

The majority of sites completely out of stock were BP franchisees, Mr Madderson said, adding the PRA was talking to BP about the issues they were facing.

BP told the BBC it was "working flat out to keep our petrol stations stocked and restock them when they run out".

Some of the government's reserve tanker fleet is stationed in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire

Long queues and frustrated customers have led to multiple reports on social media of abuse of service station staff.

BBC broadcast engineer Simon Hardwick tweeted: "Chatting with a member of staff at a supermarket petrol station, who said they are getting deliveries but within a few hours they sell out again. He also mentioned the abuse he's been receiving from members of the public."

Industry leaders have condemned physical and verbal abuse suffered by service station employees during the crisis.

Gordon Balmer, the executive director of the PRA, said the abuse was "completely unacceptable".

"It is important to remember that fuel stocks remain normal at refineries and terminals, and deliveries have been reduced solely due to the shortage of HGV drivers", he added.

The haulage industry said an existing shortage of lorry drivers had been made worse by a number of factors, including the pandemic, Brexit, an ageing workforce, and low wages and poor working conditions.

In an attempt to limit disruption, the government has confirmed that 5,000 fuel tanker and food lorry drivers can receive temporary UK visas, with the scheme ending on Christmas Eve.

The Road Haulage Association said, however, the recent move "barely scratches the surface", adding that only offering visas until Christmas Eve "will not be enough for companies or the drivers themselves to be attractive".

A spokesman for the government said it had taken "immediate action" to increase the numbers of HGV drivers.

"We recognise the challenges facing industry and streamlined the testing process in July to boost the number of drivers," he added.

Pay bump


Meanwhile, petrol station group EG said its workers would get a 5% pay rise for "heroic" work since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The wage increase takes the minimum rate for over-18s to £9.50 per hour at EG Group, which was founded by the Asda-owning Issa brothers.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the billionaire co-founders and co-chief executives of the group, said: "Our colleagues have pulled out all the stops and been nothing short of heroic during often very difficult times since the start of the pandemic.

"It is due to their hard work and dedication that EG has continued to be a growth business, performing strongly over the past 12 months.

"We are grateful to each and every one of them for their contributions and are therefore making a total reward package available to them which we believe is among the best in the country."

EG Group was founded in 2001 and has more than 45,000 staff working in more than 6,200 sites in Europe, the US and Australia.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
×