British military truck drivers have started delivering fuel to petrol stations as the nation continued to grapple with low supplies at forecourts.
Industry officials said the situation appeared to be easing in the North and Midlands, but there were still long queues in London and the South East.
A shortage of qualified truck drivers since Brexit was implemented has led to panic buying over the past week, despite no actual decline in fuel levels at refineries.
After pressure from industry and motorists to act, the government last week eventually agreed to deploy 200 soldiers to help with deliveries.
“Stocks in London and the South of England have been recovering at slightly slower rates than other parts of the UK, so we have begun deploying military personnel to boost supply in these areas.
“More than half of those who have completed training to make fuel deliveries are being deployed to terminals serving London and the South-East of England, demonstrating that the sector is allocating drivers to areas most affected in this first phase from Monday.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday said the disruption could extend to Christmas, describing the current crisis as a “period of adjustment” post-Brexit.
The government was also forced into a screeching u-turn last week when it caved in to demands to create a visa scheme for foreign truckers in order to ensure food deliveries ahead of the busy Christmas period.
It originally offered 5,000 three month visas that would expire on Christmas eve, but was forced to climb down further after it became apparent that overseas drivers were unlikely to take up a short-term offer.
Meanwhile on Monday Finance Minister Rishi Sunak tried to distance the government from the crisis by saying said he could not “wave a magic wand” to make supply chain problems go away.
He said the labour-supply problems were global “from Poland to the United States, and even in China”. However, outside the UK there is little evidence of this translating into fuel or food shortages.
