Amelia Cutting
The UK government has suspended a competition law so that they can prioritise delivery of fuel to places that need it the most. It will allow fuel producers and suppliers to share data more easily so that they can target deliveries to areas that were hit hardest by the fuel shortage, caused by petrol panic buying.
What is competition law?
Ratified by the Competition Act 1998, it forces companies to find better ways of becoming more innovative in improving costs, so that customers can be charged less.
For instance- when one company charges less for a product, others are forced to do the same.
It was also suspended temporarily when shortages arose during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The announcement to suspend the law follows a meeting between Kwasi Kwarteng, Business Secretary, and senior executives from the fuel industry. A measure to exempt the industry from the Competition Act 1998 for the purpose of sharing information and optimising supply was agreed.
“We thank HGV drivers and all forecourt staff for their tireless work during this period.”
What is this measure?
Known as The Downstream Oil Protocol, it lets the government work with fuel producers, suppliers, hayliers and retailers to improve the crisis situation that has seen petrol stations run out of fuel.
The Department for Transport said that the measure should ensure ‘disruption is minimised as far as possible.’
Kwarteng said:
“While there has always been and continues to be plenty of fuel at refineries and terminals, we are aware that there have been some issues with supply chains.
This is why we will enact the Downstream Oil Protocol to ensure industry can share vital information and work together more effectively to ensure disruption is minimised. We thank HGV drivers and all forecourt staff for their tireless work during this period.”
Further measures announced to help the situation include an increase in testing, short-term visas for foreign HGV drivers and ‘skill boot camps’ designed to train around 3,000 new HGV drivers.
The Current Situation:
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said yesterday that fuel shortages have improved as panic buying has eased, but it remains ‘critical’ in some areas of the UK.
These areas include London and the South East.
Media triggered.
SE England is the only region still hurting from panic-triggered fuel crisishttps://t.co/D9O4VkhE7P
Sent via @updayUK
— superboab (@SuperBoab) October 3, 2021
Chairman of the PRA, Brian Madderson, said: “we have just completed our survey of our 1,000 sites across the UK and the situation is very much better than it was yesterday.”
The Fuel Crisis in Five Key Dates:
23rd September: BP temporarily closes some petrol stations.
25th September: a temporary visa scheme is announced after long queues at petrol stations, it allows up to 5,000 lorry drivers to work in the UK in the run-up to Christmas.
27th September: Army put on standby to help deliver fuel.
28th September: Boris Johnson says that the situation is ‘stabilising’.
2nd October: There is a ‘distinct improvement’ nationwide but supplies remain critical in London and the South-East.
Featured image courtesy of IADE-Michoko via Pixabay. No changes were made to this image. Image licence can be found here.
Amelia Cutting
I'm Amelia- a graduate from the University of Leeds and current NCTJ Level 5 Diploma student!