Thousands of petrol stations have run dry following a third day of panic buying amid warnings the HGV driver shortage could lead to empty shelves at Christmas.
The Government has announced a temporary visa scheme that will see 5,000 foreign HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers allowed into the UK on three-month contracts up to Christmas Eve in an attempt to keep supermarket shelves stocked with turkeys and tackle fuel delivery difficulties.
And the government also announced competition law has been suspended to allow oil companies to target petrol stations running low on fuel following three days of panic buying.
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It has agreed to implement a measure to temporarily exempt the industry from the Competition Act 1998 for the purpose of sharing information and optimising supply.
There were reports of some petrol stations closing across Greater Manchester and long queues at others, with tempers flaring among drivers trying to fill up.
The Petrol Retailers Association, which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said around two-thirds of its members were reporting that they had sold out of fuel, with the rest of them 'partly dry and running out soon'.
Chairman Brian Madderson said he shortages were down to 'panic buying, pure and simple' as he hit out at whoever leaked BP's initial supply concerns to the media following a meeting with Government earlier this month.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to suggest the leak had come from industry body the Road Haulage Association, a charge senior figures at the organisation have denied.
Mr Madderson said it was the leak that sparked the 'frenzied buying' at the pumps over the past days, adding: "Whoever leaked it to a main broadcaster must have known the chaos that would ensue as soon as it hit newspapers, and that's what we've had."
Elsewhere, reports suggested more than half of non-motorway service stations have run out out of fuel, although the crisis appears to be more acute in the south east.
During Sunday broadcast interviews, Mr Shapps called for the public to be 'sensible' and only fill up their cars when needed as there is 'plenty of fuel' available.
But the British Retail Consortium warned the decision to relax immigration rules to fix supply chain issues was 'too little, too late for the festive season.
Director of food and sustainability policy Andrew Opie, asked what shop shelves might look like at Christmas, said: “I think we’re going to see less choice, less availability, possibly shorter shelf life as well, which is really disappointing because this could have been averted.
“I think it’s inevitable now, just through the shortage of drivers, that we won’t be able to get all the products on to the shelves that we would have liked to.”
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the 'limited scope' of the Government’s announcement on drivers had 'surprised many' and called for a 'Cobra-like' committee to help alleviate the short term pressures being experienced as the economy bounces back after the coronavirus pandemic.
Union Unite said the visa initiative was an invitation to 'plunder workers from other nations' that amounted to 'propping up a broken and exploitative system'.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested he would back creating enough visas to fill all 100,000 vacancies in the haulage industry, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: "We have to issue enough visas to cover the number of drivers that we need."
The reaction comes as lengthy queues at petrol stations continued as motorists looked to fill-up following leaked concerns that a lack of specialist tanker drivers could have a knock-on effect on the ability of fuel companies to restock the pumps.
A BP spokesman said: "We are experiencing fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites. This is being caused by a shortage of qualified drivers. The majority of the 1200 sites we supply remain supplied and open.
"However, at the moment we estimate that 10 to 15 per cent of sites in this network currently may not have one grade of fuel or another."
Shell added: "We are working hard to ensure supplies for -customers. Since Friday we have been seeing a higher-than-normal demand across our network which is resulting in some sites running low on some grades."
Morrisons said: "It is a rapidly moving situation and we are working hard with our suppliers to ensure we can continue to keep our pumps open and serve our customers."
