The owner of a local chain of service stations has reassured motorists that fuel deliveries continue to arrive as normal, but the supply chain simply can’t keep up with overwhelming public demand.
Joseph Richardson, Managing Director of Jos Richardson & Son Ltd, which owns eight service stations across the region, including Glews Services at Goole, Longs Corner Garage in Howden, York Road Garage in Escrick and Snaith Hall Service Station in Snaith, said: "We have not experienced a problem with tanker deliveries, so far they have been arriving on time as we would expect, but we just cannot keep up with the demand.
“We are selling three or four days' worth of fuel in one day, which no supply chain can keep up with.”
There have been widespread reports of members of the public panic buying fuel from service stations across the country after articles appeared in some of the national media last week suggesting that a shortage of HGV drivers could disrupt deliveries to some fuel stations. With queues mounting outside many service stations and some running out of fuel completely towards the end of last week, the Government has appealed to motorists not to panic buy.
Mr Richardon’s comments appear to reflect the picture nationally, and he’s optimistic that the situation will stabilise during he coming days.
He added: “Hopefully, it will start to settle down as soon as people have full tanks and don’t need to fill up for a while.”
