UK extends truck driver visa program as fuel crisis persists

By PAN PYLAS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British government has extended an emergency visa program for truck drivers as fuel shortages frustrate motorists lining up at empty pumps. The Conservative government said late Friday that temporary visas for nearly 5,000 foreign truck drivers it hoped to recruit would run into 2022 instead of expiring on Christmas Eve. The short duration of the program announced last week drew widespread criticism for not being attractive enough to entice foreign drivers. The government said 300 fuel drivers would be able to come to the U.K. from overseas “immediately” and stay until March. Some 4,700 other visas for foreign food truck drivers will be up for grabs starting in late October.