Fuel crisis ‘back under control’ as petrol station deliveries outweigh sales, minister insists
The fuel crisis is “back under control” as more is now being delivered to petrol stations than is being sold, a minister has told Sky News.
After days of long queues at petrol stations and with many running out of fuel, Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the main message today is “there is enough fuel”.
He told Sky News’ Kay Burley: “That crisis is now absolutely something which is back under control.
“More fuel is now being delivered to petrol stations than sold, we’re confident the commercial market can resolve this.”
Simon Clarke said there are now more deliveries than sales
At the weekend, he said 60% of petrol stations were out of fuel, but as of Wednesday, that was down to 27% and that situation “will continue to improve”.
He confirmed 150 army drivers are still on standby to drive lorries if needed as the shortage has been caused by a lack of HGV drivers, but so far they have not been used.
“The most important message is the resilience of the fuel supply chain is improving,” Mr Clarke said.
“If people just shop normally, this will correct itself.”
Mr Clarke said there are now 4,000 provisional HGV licence applications in the system and the government is trying to bring the processing time down to below five days to help the driver shortage.
“We are working flat out to make sure we train more drivers, we’re increasing testing, so we can make sure they pass their test,” he added.
Despite just over a quarter of fuel stations being out of fuel, according to a survey by the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), motorists continue to say there is not enough fuel.
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Man with ‘knife’ confronts queue-jumper
Some roads around London have become gridlocked as drivers hunted for fuel, with some filling up water bottles and reports of violence.
PRA executive director Gordon Balmer said forecourt staff were being subjected to a “high level” of physical and verbal abuse from frustrated drivers.
Video footage emerged of a man wielding a knife at other drivers as tempers boiled over during long waits for fuel.
UK
‘I couldn’t cope with Britain anymore’: Kurdish man pays smuggler to return him to France after failed asylum claim
We are rushing down the beach. In the gloom just before dawn, people are waiting by the seashore, a few hundred metres away.
We can see a dinghy out at sea. And then a voice rings out, in Kurdish.
“Whose passengers are you?”
In the half-light, the people smuggler thinks we are customers here to clamber on to the boat, and wants to know who we had paid.
We tell him we’re journalists.
“Keep out of the way,” he warns.
There are several dozen people gathered together, standing on the shoreline, moving anxiously from side to side.
Migrants wait for a dinghy as they prepare to cross the Channel to reach the UK
I can see some women and children, but most of the passengers are men.
Some are clinging to a bag of possessions; others have nothing but the clothes they stand in. A man has his child held up on his shoulders.
Just about everyone is wearing a life jacket.
Just beyond, the boat is coming near the shore, already half full of people.
It seems impossible that all the people on the land can really fit into the space left in the boat, but that’s what happens.
On a signal, the movement starts – the younger men clamber in first, and then help the women, children and older people to get into the boat.
It all happens remarkably quickly. From a distance, migrant boats may look ramshackle and chaotic, but when you get up close, there is method and practice.
Some people jump off; the men who didn’t have life jackets on.
It becomes clear that these are the smugglers – or, more accurately, the smugglers’ assistants who have been sent to sort things out.
On one side, we see a moment of tension as two passengers square up – one accuses the other of not leaving a space for him to get aboard.
A shoe left in the sand following the attempted crossing
It is a faintly ridiculous squabble, like something between two drunk men in a pub, and it blows over. They end up sitting next to each other, brooding.
And then the engine is started and the boat sets off. At first, it’s a failure – the boat, low in the water with around 70 people on board, gets stuck on a small bar of sand and spins around.
But, with a push here and there, it gets going and slowly chugs away into the mist of the morning.
‘Migrants are desperate’
We turn around. The smugglers are leaving. We shout a question – are all these people Kurds?
“All of them,” he says. “These are the last Kurdish customers I have. There are no more.”
“Why not?”
And his answer is one succinct word: “Rwanda.”
The smugglers, dressed in black, disappear into the gloom.
We can just about see them clambering into the dunes, and then they are gone. It is a good ten minutes before we see the police – four officers marching down the beach.
They ask only two questions – firstly, did we see women and children on the boat (yes) and secondly, had the boat been launched from the beach (no).
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
They’d only just started their patrol, one of the officers tells me. He looks at the calm waters and shrugs. It could be busy.
Over the course of that night, we had seen plenty of police officers. We’d been questioned on the beach, checked as we walked near the beach and then pulled over at a road block.
We’d chatted with a team of CRS riot officers on the beach, one of whom bemoaned the fact that so few people grasped the sheer complexity of what they took on.
“It is so, so complicated – the migrants are desperate, and they can get everywhere. We cannot have a team in every place, at every time.”
It turned out that the road block officers were exactly the same team who we’d met on a different beach the previous evening.
“Ah, Sky News you are back,” he said, with a smile and a handshake.
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‘I cannot go to Rwanda’
We meet two young Sudanese men who tell us they are determined to get to Britain. When I ask if they’re worried about the Rwanda plan, they look blank. They’ve never heard of it.
And then we drop into a migrant camp that is growing in size and bump into another group of Kurds.
They are cooking food – this is the cafe for the migrants – and brewing tea that is strong, and scented with cinnamon.
They give me a cup. It’s delicious.
Omar is kneading dough, making crispy flatbread, and serving it with yoghurt. And he talks as he cooks, serving a remarkable story.
At a migrant camp in France that is growing in size, people kneed bread
Two years ago, Omar left Kurdistan and paid a smuggler $15,000 (£12,000) to get him to Britain. He was there for 20 months, suffered a stroke, failed to gain asylum and ended up paying a smuggler £500 to get him out of Britain and back to this squalid camp in France.
Yes, you read that correctly. He paid to be smuggled out of Britain, and back to France.
“Here there is no washing or bath,” he says.
“You can’t clean yourself. Life is hard. But in Britain I had to give my fingerprints and signature regularly. Once every two weeks.
Omar, who paid to be smuggled out of the UK after a failed asylum claim, speaks to Adam Parsons
“Then I was told they had turned me down for asylum. I couldn’t cope with Britain anymore.
“They could arrest me and send me to Rwanda or Iraq. Rwanda – I cannot go there.
“So that’s why I came back here, to this place. But I have no money. I am 52 years old. It’s a terrible feeling to be back here, but what can I do?”
Listening to him is Barzan, who arrived in the camp five days ago after eight months on the road since leaving Kurdistan.
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Girl crushed to death on cross-Channel migrant boat
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By striking contrast, he is not remotely bothered by the Rwanda plan.
“People won’t stop, whatever you tell them.
“Even if you tell them they will be taken to Africa, they would still go without hesitation. Rwanda is better than Kurdistan.
“But in Britain there is work. The currency is strong. I’m young and I want to make a life for myself.”
Another voice is raised – a man named Karwan.
A man named Karwan, who wants to cross the Channel from France to the UK
He hears the word Rwanda, shrugs, smiles and shakes his head: “I think it’s a joke. Two years ago they started going on about Rwanda and nothing came of it.
“Now, it’s just for the sake of the election. Nothing else.”
UK
UK weather: Thunderstorm warning for large parts of country after temperatures set to reach as high as 27C
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms for large of parts of the UK after temperatures are predicted to reach as high as 27C.
It comes as the UK experiences high temperatures today and over the weekend – before forecasters warn of “thundery breakdowns” on Sunday.
The warning is in place from noon to 10pm on Sunday and covers northwest England, most of Wales, much of central England and the South West.
See the latest weather forecast where you are
“Heavy showers and thunderstorms could lead to some disruption in places, especially to travel,” the Met Office says.
“Isolated property flooding is possible.”
It adds: “There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.”
People surfing during spring sunshine, as the warm weather is set to continue into the weekend, at Fistral Beach, Newquay, Pic: Reuters
Despite the sunshine, storms are on the horizon for many – beach walkers pictured earlier this year. Pic: PA
The south of England will see highs of 25C (77F) today, with the potential of temperatures reaching 26C (78.8F) on Saturday and possibly 27C (80.6F) on Sunday, according to the Met Office.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are also expected to enjoy warmer springtime weather, with 22C (71.6F) forecast for Saturday in Glasgow.
The spell of warm weather is down to a block of high pressure that has been over the UK for much of this week.
With it, the country has also seen increased levels of UV and pollen and even two wildfire warnings.
Fire services for Dorset and Wiltshire as well as Hampshire and the Isle of Wight issued the warnings for this weekend.
However, much of the sunshine and blue skies will give way to rain and thunderstorms during Sunday.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Deputy chief meteorologist Tony Wisson previously said: “Many places will start fine and warm on Sunday, though it is likely to become cloudier from the west or South West during the day. This will be accompanied by scattered showers, which could be heavy with thunder.
“On Monday we’re likely to see more widespread and longer-lived spells of rain, some of which will be heavy and thundery. This will also lead to a much cooler feel to the day.”
Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said that along with the wind and rain, next week temperatures will drop back closer to the average for this time of year.
The Northern Lights are set to be visible across the UK overnight as a huge solar storm is going to hit Earth.
America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reportedly issued its first severe solar storm warning since 2005 yesterday as a huge geomagnetic storm races towards Earth – meaning it could be the most powerful experienced in almost two decades.
It’s set to hit overnight, and could supercharge the Northern Lights, making them visible in Scotland, northern England and Wales and even further south if conditions are right.
But the Aurora Borealis could also potentially interfere with infrastructure, including the power grid and satellites when it hits.
See the latest weather forecast where you are
The Northern Lights pictured last month over Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. Pic: AP
The huge solar storm was created by successive coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have left space a “mess”, one space physicist told Sky News.
CMEs are when a large cloud of high energy plasma erupts from the Sun, into space, and currently there is a sunspot spitting a number out – aimed right at Earth.
Professor Mathew Owens, a space physicist at the University of Reading’s department of meteorology, told Sky News: “Space is a mess right now, there’s six or seven of these eruptions piling up right now between the Sun and Earth and we’re predicting they’re going to arrive at 2am [11 May].”
The Met Office told Sky News: “With clear spells likely for many on Friday night, there’s an increased chance of aurora visibility for some, particularly across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales.
“Given the right conditions, there is the chance it may even be visible further south.”
But the impacts of the geomagnetic storm don’t stop there, and the power grid could feel the effects of the recent solar activity too.
Professor Owens added: “The worry is there’ll be effects on the power grid. I don’t expect those to be significant but you never know.”
Read more from Sky News:
Thunderstorm warning for large parts of UK
Section of M25 set to close
UK exits recession
The NOAA says: “Geomagnetic storms can … potentially disrupt communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.”
Satellites are also vulnerable because they can be affected directly by radiation caused by CMEs, while power grids are affected because the solar discharge can warp the Earth’s own magnetic field, impacting them.
The solar flares and CMEs that have caused all the “mess” in space began on 8 May and picked up the pace in recent days.
The explosion of plasma and magnetic fields are focused in one sunspot that is actually visible from Earth and can be seen safely through a pair of eclipse glasses.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
It’s difficult to predict the precise impacts, or exactly how far south the Northern Lights will reach because of natural uncertainty within forecasts and the difficulty of measuring the oncoming electromagnetic fields of the eruptions too far ahead of time.
This gives them “very little warning” to the potential severity of the impacts.
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