EG Group petrol station staff get pay rise

UK staff at a petrol station group are to get a 5% pay rise for "heroic" work since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The wage increase takes the minimum rate for over-18s to £9.50 per hour at EG Group, which was founded by the Asda-owning Issa brothers.

The pay rise comes amid a crisis that has seen fuel running out at petrol stations and reports of some customers abusing staff.

The army remains on standby to deliver fuel amid a lorry driver shortage.

Hourly rates of pay for 10,500 UK EG Group employees will rise by about 5% to a minimum of £9.50 per hour "in recognition of their hard work and commitment throughout the pandemic", the group said.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the billionaire co-founders and co-chief executives of the group, said: "Our colleagues have pulled out all the stops and been nothing short of heroic during often very difficult times since the start of the pandemic.

"It is due to their hard work and dedication that EG has continued to be a growth business, performing strongly over the past 12 months.

"We are grateful to each and every one of them for their contributions and are therefore making a total reward package available to them which we believe is among the best in the country."

EG Group was founded in 2001 and has more than 45,000 staff working in more than 6,200 sites in Europe, the US and Australia.

Over the past few weeks the UK has been grappling with a fuel crisis driven by concerns over supply.

While the government and industry say there is enough fuel at UK refineries, there have been fears that a shortage of lorry drivers would affect the transport of fuel to petrol stations.

Long queues and frustrated customers have led to multiple reports of abuse of service station staff on social media.

BBC broadcast engineer Simon Hardwick tweeted: "Chatting with a member of staff at a supermarket petrol station who said they are getting deliveries but within a few hours they sell out again. He also mentioned the abuse he's been receiving from members of the public."

Industry leaders have condemned physical and verbal abuse suffered by service station employees during the crisis.

On Wednesday, Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), said: "We are extremely disappointed to hear many forecourt staff are experiencing a high level of both verbal and physical abuse which is completely unacceptable.

"Forecourts are trying their best to manage queues and ensure there is plenty of fuel to go around."

Mr Balmer said that fuel deliveries "have been reduced solely due to the shortage of HGV drivers" and "fuel stocks remain normal at refineries and terminals".

The PRA, which represents independent fuel retailers, said that more than a quarter (26%) of its members' petrol stations were out of fuel on Wednesday.

The haulage industry blames the shortage of lorry drivers on factors including Covid and Brexit.