London fuel chaos as decision on army deployment expected imminently

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to confirm the deployment on Monday afternoon.

A number of petrol stations across London have been forced to close because they have sold out of fuel after tens of thousands of motorists queued for hours over the weekend to fill up on petrol.

Drivers are continuing to wait in long queues across the capital as panic buying of petrol and diesel intensifies.

Disruption has been caused across the city as a result, causing traffic pile-ups of as long as 50 car lengths.

The crisis extends to its fourth day today despite the government and supermarkets warning people to not panic buy any fuel or goods.

More than half of forecourts have temporarily closed their doors across the country, with BP announcing that at least 100 stations had no access to one grade of fuel - leading to the possibility of soldiers being called in to help with deliveries, as the HGV driver shortage continues with around 100,000 vacancies.

Government ministers will debate this during a cabinet meeting on Monday, as well as plans to issue 10,500 temporary visas to foreign lorry drivers and food industry workers.

In a rare and drastic change to alleviate the country’s fuel concerns, leading officials have suspensended competition law in a bid for oil firms to come together and target deliveries to petrol stations.

The protocol will help fuel providers, suppliers, hauliers and retailers strategise a way to prioritise the more in-need areas across the country.

This follows a warning made by The Petrol Retailers Association, who stated that as many as two-thirds of independent outlets no longer had fuel, with the rest “partly dry and running out soon”.