There are ‘early signs the crisis at the pumps is ending’, after a frenzy of panic buying drained many of Britain’s petrol stations, according to the Petrol Retailers Association.
Despite figures revealing that 37% of the forecourts across the country ran out of fuel on Tuesday, the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), a trade body which represents around two-thirds of the nation’s service stations, has claimed that the situation will likely improve within the next 24 hours.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Chair of the PRA, Brian Madderson, has assured that there are slight signs of improvement as many garages continue to grapple with suffocating supply.
Mr Madderson said: “Panic buying is continuing, it certainly hasn’t disappeared, but it’s at a slightly less frenzied rate.
“We’re hopeful some sort of equilibrium between supply and demand might be reached by the weekend.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also shared his optimism, believing that the situation is ‘stabilising’ and that drivers should go about their business as normal.
The government has been under increasing pressure throughout the past week as the crisis has spread after it began with minor disruption to the fuel deliveries to forecourts due to a shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers which then prompted a panic buying frenzy of fuel during the weekend.
The government has relaxed visa rules for foreign HGV drivers and suspended aspects of competition law to let fuel suppliers co-operate to combat the crisis.
Mr Johnson said: “I want to say, first of all, how much I sympathise with people who’ve been worried about their journeys, worried about whether they’ll be able to use their cars in the normal way, to see their loved ones or whatever it is, and I know how frustrating, infuriating it must have been to worry about shortage of petrol or fuel.
“We now are starting to see the situation improve; we’re hearing from (the) industry that supplies are coming back on to the forecourt in the normal way.
“What we want to do is make sure that we have all the preparations necessary to get through until Christmas and beyond, not just in supplying the petrol stations but all parts of our supply chain.”
Image source: iNews
