The prime minister said army drivers would be prepared to help deliver fuel to affected petrol stations on a short-term basis amid the crisis. The decision was made on Monday at a meeting of cabinet ministers as the industry said that consumer panic buying —  not real shortages of petrol and diesel — was the main cause of the problem. However, despite government warnings of panic buying only worsening the situation, many continue to queue at fuel stations.  

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said, “The UK continues to have strong supplies of fuel. However, we are aware of supply chain issues at fuel station forecourts and are taking steps to ease these as a matter of priority. If required, the deployment of military personnel will provide the supply chain with additional capacity as a temporary measure to help ease pressures caused by spikes in localised demand for fuel.”

The government has released a joint statement from the fuel industry, announcing that companies expect the problem to ease off within the coming days as many drivers will now have full tanks of fuel.