As BP has announced the “temporary” closure of some of its petrol stations due to a shortage of lorry drivers, Newsnight dedicated a section of the program to the shortage crisis the country might be running towards. Speaking on the BBC was Rod McKenzie, from the Road Haulage Association, a private company dedicated to road transport operators.

       Mr McKenzie urged the public not to “panic buy food or fuel”.

       He said: “I don’t think we’re talking about [a situation] with absolutely no fuel or food.

       “People should not panic buy food or fuel. That’s not what this is about.

       “It’s about stock-outs, shortages, a normal supply chain being disrupted”, he said.

       In his opinion, the lack of lorry drivers is due to several factors, including Brexit.

       Leaving the European Union reportedly eliminated 20,000 European drivers according to the Road Haulage Association speaker.

       In addition, the pandemic slowed down 40,000 trucker training tests since early 2020 because of social distancing and cancellations.

       But there is also a long term underlying cause to the problem.

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       “We’ve had a historic shortage in this country of tens of thousands of lorry drivers and that means we got a shortage now of 100,000.”

       Mr McKenzie did not hold back when it came to mentioning the British Government as he claimed the problem isn’t new and should have been taken with more consideration.

       “Newsnight was the first TV programme to highlight this back in the summer when we talked about lorry drivers shortage.

       “The government could have listened then and acted then.

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       “They haven’t. That’s why we’ve had a sort of government by inertia here where it has gone gradually worse.”

       Regarding the BP fuel shortage, the Government has released a recent reassuring statement.

       A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was no shortage of fuel in the UK, adding: “We obviously recognise the challenges faced by the industry and we're taking steps to support them.”