Panic buying of fuel in UK sparks fears doctors, teachers won’t get

There are calls for Britain’s key workers to be given priority access to fuel, as the panic buying of gasoline across the country continues.

It is estimated that the U.K. currently has a shortage of around 100,000 heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers, which has disrupted deliveries and constrained the supply of goods and fuel.

In recent days, motorists have been sitting in long queues outside gas stations, often to find that no gasoline is available.

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) estimated on Monday that up to 90% of stations in the country were dry.

On Tuesday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the situation was beginning to stabilize.

“A lot of petrol is now being transferred into people’s cars and there are now the first very tentative signs of stabilization in the forecourt storage which won’t be reflected in the queues as yet, but it’s the first time we’ve seen more petrol in the petrol stations itself,” he told Sky News.

However, queues and gas station closures were still rife on Tuesday.

There are concerns that essential workers – such as those in the health and social care sectors — could soon be unable to travel to work. Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, urged the U.K. government to give healthcare workers priority access to fuel.

He stressed that emergency and essential workers rely on fuel both to travel to work and for the work itself. “Everyone will have their own reasons for needing to fill up, but as pumps run dry there is a real risk that NHS [National Health Service] staff won’t be able to do their jobs, and provide vital services and care to people who urgently need it,” he said in a statement Monday.

Doctor-led campaign group EveryDoctor also called for steps to be taken to ensure key workers could access fuel. “It is time for the government to share responsibility for our patients’ well-being by prioritizing fuel for key workers,” Dr. Julia Grace Patterson, chief executive of EveryDoctor, told CNBC via email.

Meanwhile, Patrick Roach, general secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, said ongoing shortages were expected to cause “serious difficulties for the provision of education.”

“For many teachers, the use of public transport is simply not an option,” he said in a statement on Monday. “The Government must urgently consider making teachers a priority group for access to locally available petrol and diesel fuel supplies. Without such intervention, many teachers will struggle to get to their places of work on time.”

However, not everyone is convinced that reserving fuel for certain individuals is a good idea.

Joe Armitage, lead analyst for U.K. politics at Global Counsel, said the government needed to ensure people can buy the fuel they require, “but without any draconian limits or reserving particular…