Military deployed to tackle fuel crisis

The military has been called in to ease the ongoing fuel crisis that has gripped Britain.

Members of the armed forces were today seen at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead. Almost 200 military personnel, including 100 drivers, are being deployed to provide support as the government tried to relieve pressure on petrol stations.

Soldiers, in uniform and wearing face masks, were seen walking near the gates to the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal.

Temporary visas for foreign drivers may help solve the UK’s HGV crisis, but the truckers answering the call are coming from outside the EU, according to a new economic analysis by the world’s largest job site Indeed.

Indeed recorded a 307% spike in interest in UK-based HGV jobs from overseas drivers in the days following the government’s announcement that it will offer 5,000 temporary visas to foreign drivers keen to work here.

But the bulk of interest came from non-European drivers; enquiries from jobseekers based outside the EU soared by 627%. 

Indeed’s data suggests drivers from India, the UAE, South Africa, Poland and Nigeria are keenest to answer the government’s call.