Lucas’s odyssey to move his van in England: no diesel at 7 gas stations

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Carriers of Spaintransport on United Kingdom they make an average of 45 deliveries per day, But since gasoline is scarce they have reduced the stops to about 10. Pablo Pizano He is a partner and traffic manager of the Spanish company Spaintransport, a moving and parcel company between the UK and Spain founded 18 months ago. As Pizano explains to EL ESPAÑOL, the company has reduced the number of stops in British lands due to the lack of gasoline.

This very morning Lucas Pérez, his partner and permanently based in London, was in seven different gas stations and found no diesel, Pizano comments. “For this reason, on today’s route we will only make super urgent deliveries,” he laments.

The queues that have been seen at UK service stations since last Thursday have generated a general malaise. Even though that him Boris Johnson government insists supplies are guaranteed, The message has not gotten through since the shortage of truckers is a fact and demand has skyrocketed, in part, due to the panic of shortages.

A gas station in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, announces to its customers that it has run out of fuel.

A gas station in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, announces to its customers that it has run out of fuel.

Reuters

Despite the fact that the images of the last days in which there have even been clashes have stoked the fear of seeing deserted supermarket shelves and vehicles without gasoline, this diesel crisis is not comparable to the one that hit the country already. 21 years around this same time.

In September 2000 lCrude prices reached levels never seen before so far, some refineries have been blocked by protesters and the fear of not getting gasoline has prompted drivers to queue long like those seen this week.

Meanwhile, logistics companies do juggling to ensure distribution throughout the island. The United Kingdom has more than 8,000 service stations, and Pablo Pizano points out that although diesel could be found on the outskirts of London in the last three or four days, “at the moment, there is no national solution.”

Difficult moves

Spaintransport has 9 workers, of which 7 are dedicated to transporting parcels and moving between Spain and UK. Pizano details that one of his drivers is about to reach British soil after having boarded the ferry in Santander. This van and the one he drives Lucas Perez in London they are in charge of making some 200 furniture deliveries a week.

Petrol shortage in the UK.

Petrol shortage in the UK.

Efe

“This week we have survived because the route has taken us north, tracing a route in England from Norwich through York, reaching Scotland and then returning and going through Manchester, Birmingham, Winchester y Bristol until returning to London ”. They have delivered 166 orders and have 18 pending.

This Wednesday, faced with this problem, they sent a statement to their clients in which they warned about the possibility that deliveries would be delayed while waiting to finalize the routes. “We have sent a van with a full tank to reinforce and settle the rest”, read the email. As Pizano points out, “when the van travels from Spain, and as it cannot carry more diesel than is established in the tank, we have filled them and given the maximum possible use”.

A perfect storm

Boris Johson’s cabinet insists that The coronavirus pandemic has made this crisis deeper than had been anticipated. On Tuesday, the prime minister acknowledged that it is “frustrating” to feel that fuel is scarce, but he asked the population to stop buying in panic and rather to do so in a “normal” way.

According to the BBC, about 150 soldiers are prepared to transport tanker trucks full of fuel and the Minister of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, insisted that the situation is stabilizing as the government’s reserve truck fleet begins to hit the roads this afternoon.

The executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents two-thirds of service stations, explained on Twitter that the pump crisis may be coming to an end as fuel arrives.

The truck driver shortage has dried up gas stations and furthermore, there is one word in the air that conservatives are avoiding mentioning and that is Brexit.

Boris Johson during the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Britain, at Westminster Abbey

Boris Johson during the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Britain, at Westminster Abbey

Reuters

Pablo Pizano explains to EL ESPAÑOL that the effective exit of the United Kingdom It has not been a problem in and of itself for your company, quite the contrary. “Since Brexit has become effective, there are hundreds of companies that have stopped offering services like ours and we have become a first course for those who want to move their things from one country to another,” says Spaintransport’s head of traffic.

By working with more deliveries than collected within the British territory and having the majority of its drivers in Spain, this company is assured of its workforce, but this is not the case for the bulk of logistics companies.

Shortage

Driver and food shortages are a reality in United Kingdom and Brexit is part of this equation, despite the fact that driver recruitment companies such as Driver Require they disagree.

In their most recent report, they maintain that it has been the pandemic that has caused thousands of drivers to leave their jobs, but they acknowledge that Brexit has been a determining factor.

The key, the report says, is in fluctuating demand. According to this company, drivers from the European Union “have provided elasticity and resilience” at peak times and its absence can generate “difficulties in the future”.

In a decision in extremis brand of the current conservative cabinet, it was decided to offer 5,000 temporary work permits for truckers from the European Union.

The purchase of gasoline in the face of panic that it runs out causes serious problems at UK gas stations

The purchase of gasoline in the face of the panic that it runs out causes “serious problems” at UK petrol stations

“We want to make sure we have all the necessary preparations to get to the Christmas and beyond, not only to supply gas stations, but to all parts of our supply chain, “he said Wednesday Boris Johnson being aware that the shortage may impact public services and industry.

“I want to believe that the gasoline crisis will be solved, but right now, that not even Boris Johnson knows,” says Pizano jokingly as they hope that the storm will end sooner rather than later.

While the problem is solved, the Tory cabinet will have to be prepared for new protests, a Labor movement that is gaining strength and that this situation has given fuel on the occasion of its annual congress. UK faces a hot autumn in which fuel shortages and of workers in industries dominated mainly by migrants will be a source of unrest.

Reference-www.elespanol.com

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