James O'Brien reacts to lorry driver shortage as PM warns against panic buying

24 September 2021, 14:02

James O'Brien responds to the shortage of petrol lorry drivers.

By Tim Dodd

This was James O'Brien's reaction to the lorry driver shortage impacting UK petrol, as he pointed out "these problems were already there" but that "52% of the electorate voted for more problems".

It comes as the armed forces could be tasked to help drive lorries in the UK following a global shortage of HGV drivers which is leaving petrol pumps dry and shelves stripped bare.

BP is planning on rationing its fuel deliveries to petrol stations amid a shortage of lorry drivers and fuel stocks that are "declining rapidly", according to reports.

James said: "These problems were already there. There are some sectors that exist with permanent shortages, the NHS for example. Very few sectors, if any, are ever at full capacity.

"So when the government turn around and say there were shortages before we voted to have even more shortages, they're being a little bit disingenuous.

"The reason why although there are shortages in other European countries, they are not having reports of empty shelves or petrol stations closing or anything like that - we have made a permanent situation of shortage worse, because we fell for the line that there were too many people here for the jobs available."

'I watched the price change from £1.31 to £1.51 a litre.'

Read more: Tesco warns Christmas panic buying could be 'far worse' than during Covid

Read more: Hundreds of thousands of people not using their HGV licenses, says Minister

He continued: "There's all sorts of problems that are unique to Britain that make the problems worse in Britain, and most of those problems track back to the B-word.

"No one is claiming that we've gone from perfection to catastrophe in the last five years. We've gone from problems to really big problems and insanely, of course, 52% of the electorate voted for more problems without realising it."

Read more: Food or presents: HGV driver's stark warning about Christmas if shortages persist

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