Britain is expected to relax visa regulations

ng lines of cars meandered outside petrol stations in the UK on Saturday, where an acute shortage of truck drivers led to fuel rationing and the drying up of some pumps, prompting the government to consider issuing temporary work visas.

Drivers across the country waited in long lines to refuel their vehicles. A large trader said he had rationed sales and a number of operators said they had to close some gas stations, causing panic buying.

Government ministers and oil companies say that gasoline and diesel supplies are plentiful and that there is no cause for concern, but that the lack of truck drivers is hindering the transport of fuel from refineries to gas stations.

Since the retailers are also warning of significant supply bottlenecks in the run-up to Christmas, the office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it is looking into a short-term solution to the truck driver shortage.

"We are considering temporary measures to avoid immediate problems, but any measures we put in place will be strictly limited in time," a spokeswoman for Johnson's Downing Street office said in a statement.

"Like countries around the world, we are suffering from a temporary, COVID-related shortage of drivers needed to move goods around the country."

According to the UK's Road Haulage Association (RHA), the UK is missing about 100,000 drivers due to the brain drain, Brexit and COVID-19 that put driver training and testing on hold for about a year.

Newspapers have reported that the government would allow up to 5,000 foreign drivers to enter the UK on short-term visas, a measure that logistics companies and retailers have been calling for for months but which the government has so far ruled out.

Business leaders and the freight forwarding industry have welcomed this plan, but there are also doubts as to whether it goes far enough or whether drivers from Europe, which is also a labor shortage, will come to the UK.

"We have to see if we can attract people for a short period of time," Huw Merriman, chairman of Parliament's Transport Committee, told BBC TV.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent fuel retailers, said he expected the problem to last for "a while".

"I think the situation will get worse rather than get better," he told Sky News.

The issue came to the fore after BP (NYSE: BP) announced it had to close some of its stores due to driver shortages, and ExxonMobil's (NYSE: XOM) Shell (LON: RDSa) and Esso reported problems with supplying Gas stations.

The EG Group, which operates 341 gas stations across the UK, said Friday it would introduce a limit of £ 30 ($ 41) per customer on fuel due to "unprecedented customer demand".

Since the early hours of the morning on Saturday, drivers have been queuing up in front of the petrol stations, and some petrol stations have closed because they ran out of fuel.

"I was out on my bike ... and I passed my BP gas station and it was chaos," Merriman said. "As soon as the news is spread that there might be a fuel shortage, people understandably respond.

Police reported traffic jams across the country caused by drivers standing in line and told people not to contact them because the traffic was causing problems.

Britain, the fifth largest economy in the world, is also grappling with a surge in European natural gas prices, which is driving up energy prices and potentially causing food shortages.

According to the UK, the long term solution for the freight forwarding industry is to hire more UK drivers and pay them better.

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