IRISH DRIVERS have been urged not follow the UK’s example in panic-buying car fuel if they want to avoid the shortages seen across the water being replicated in Ireland.
The UK’s fuel crisis was sparked by a shortage in HGV drivers needed to supply fuel to petrol stations.
As with the toilet roll rush in the early days of the first national lockdowns last year, when news of the HGV driver shortage spread, panic soon set in, causing mass queues outside petrol stations across the UK.
The spike in demand has overwhelmed the capacity of many stations, causing acute shortages throughout the country.
Ireland has no such shortage of HGV drivers, Fuels for Ireland, a body representing a number of suppliers, including Valero, Corrib Oil, and Top Oil, has confirmed, and so no fuel supply problems are anticipated.
They said on social media: "Fuels for Ireland is aware of issues in the UK around consumer’s access to fuels, which is primarily around the availability of drivers, and want to reassure our consumers that we are experiencing no such issues here in Ireland."
Seeking to remedy the unravelling fuel situation in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was considering deployment of the armed forces so plug the gap in HGV drivers – but the government has since ruled this out as a possibility.
Though, competition laws have been temporarily relaxed to enable suppliers to coordinate their response to the nationwide shortages, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced earlier today.
Up to 90 per cent of petrol pumps located outside of UK motorways are reportedly now dry, as people stockpile fuel ahead of the anticipated shortage.
UK government sources maintain that the shortage is due to the panic buying as opposed to scarcity in the supply.
Despite calls for road users to "be sensible", violent scenes have erupted as pumps run dry and tempers flare.
