London, Sept 28 (AFP/APP):Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday ruled out priority access at the pumps for key workers, insisting a fuel supply crisis to British petrol stations was improving, even as forecourts remained gridlocked with motorists desperate to fill up.
In his first broadcast comments on the crisis that has seen the army put on standby to deliver supplies, Johnson said there was no need to allow essential workers to jump the queue.
“With the situation now stabilising and things getting better on the forecourts, the best thing is we stabilise it in the normal way,” he told reporters.
Five days of long queues at filling stations across Britain have caused traffic gridlock and frayed tempers, with some motorists even using plastic water bottles to get supplies.
The crisis threatening public confidence in Johnson’s government stems from concerns that a lack of tanker drivers post-Brexit could affect supplies at the pump.
Johnson on Monday night put the army on standby to drive tankers from refineries, after a day of denials that troops were being readied for deployment.
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said 37 percent of its members’ forecourts had reported being out of fuel on Tuesday morning.
“With regular restocks taking place, this percentage is likely to improve further over the next 24 hours,” PRA executive director Gordon Balmer said.
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