UK readies soldiers to help ease gas shortages at pumps

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British government has put dozens of soldiers on standby to help easy fuel supply problems caused by a shortage of truck drivers. The delivery problems have spurred panic buying of gasoline. The government said Monday that it was placing British army tanker drivers in “a state of readiness in order to be deployed if required to deliver fuel to where it is needed most.” The haulage industry says the U.K. is short as many as 100,000 truckers due to the coronavirus pandemic and an exodus of foreign workers following Brexit. The end result is empty supermarket shelves, shuttered gas pumps, panic buying and short tempers as some drivers wait for hours to get gas.