The government accuses the Truckers’ Union of causing fuel shortages

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Sunday accused a body representing road bandits of “causing” the shortages fuel to me
United kingdom, shortly after the government decided to grant 5,000 visas to foreign drivers to solve the crisis.

“An organization representing carriers gave an irresponsible briefing [à propos de potentielles pénuries] Which helped spark the crisis,” the minister told Sky News on Sunday, denouncing the “contrived situation” with a “very unnecessary” and “counterproductive” gesture.

The shortage of drivers has been known for a long time

In recent days, several gas stations have closed, huge queues form at other petrol pumps, as the British ignore calls for calm from the government, and hoard fuel.

In question: the shortage, which also affects the agri-food sector, caused by a shortage of 100,000 truck drivers since Brexit and the pandemic. A situation that many sectors have been warning about for several months, but the Minister of Transport assigned it to an organization representing transport companies.

Association indicated

“There was a meeting about ten days ago where one of the carrier associations decided to release the details to the media,” he explains, “and that created a great deal of concern, because people naturally react to this kind of thing.”

The minister did not name the body, but a government source told mail on sunday The RTA is “fully responsible for this panic and chaos.” Grant Shapps accused the sector unions of “wanting at all costs” to hire “more European drivers, [qui] British wages fall.

The day before, the government was forced by the crisis to grant up to 10,500 temporary work visas, of which 5,000 are for drivers: an unexpected turn in issues of professional immigration after Brexit, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government retains. Insist that the UK is no longer dependent on foreign labour.

The minister preferred to focus on other exceptional measures taken on Saturday, such as mobilizing examiners from the Ministry of Defense to pass thousands of heavy goods vehicle licenses in the coming weeks.

Rod McKenzie, of the Road Transport Association, called the “baseless” accusations in which he warned the media about the potential shortages as “ridiculous”, saying the government should instead take a “holistic” approach to the crisis.