Ministers were warned that Brexit would cause problems for hauliers. The chaos in forecourts is a mess of their making
Queues at the petrol pumps are never a good look for a government. They are especially bad in a pandemic, when so many people already have reason to feel anxious. Coming on top of gas price rises that have led to around 2m households losing their energy supplier, and following empty shelves in supermarkets, it is perhaps not surprising that some motorists have been grabbing all they can – even filling up plastic water bottles with petrol. There is a palpable sense that Britain is careering from one crisis to another.
In a belated attempt to calm a nervous nation on Tuesday, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said there were “tentative signs of stabilisation”. This assertion was backed up by petrol retailers. The hope is that the situation will gradually return to normal after the tailbacks and garage closures of recent days. But the public response to the shortages shows that confidence is shaky.