Army starts fuel deliveries to relieve shortages

The army has begun helping to deliver fuel to petrol station forecourts to help relieve shortages.

About 200 servicemen and women are being drafted in to deliver fuel from terminals to forecourts.

The troops will initially be concentrated in London and the South East, where the worst shortages remain.

The government has been criticised for not deploying them earlier after panic-buying led to chaos and queues on some petrol station forecourts.

More than 65 drivers will start work, with plans to increase this to 200 members of the army to be deployed in total, including 100 drivers.

A government spokesperson said there were signs of improvement in average forecourt stocks across the UK, adding that demand was "continuing to stabilise".

"More than half of those who have completed training to make fuel deliveries are being deployed to terminals serving London and the South-East of England, demonstrating that the sector is allocating drivers to areas most affected in this first phase from Monday," the spokesperson said.

The latest update on fuel supplies from the Petrol Retailers Association on Sunday said more than a fifth of forecourts were still dry.

But it said the "crisis was virtually at an end" in Scotland, Wales, the North and Midlands.

The PRA is scheduled to give a new update on the situation on Monday afternoon.