There's been a slew of articles from all over the country about this, and this is one of the latest ones.
Mostly saying that some drivers can't work and/or waiting times increased and/or drivers prioritising school runs or contract runs etc rather than waste fuel on the more normal stuff. This one says drivers not doing out-of-town runs.
Of course, one way to look at this is that the vast majority of the trade *isn't* having particular problems, or at least is operating largely normally but with added difficulty
Leeds taxi firm boss speaks out as fuel crisis forces drivers off the roadhttps://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds ... s-21713094Drivers can't get fuelTaxi companies in Leeds say they may be forced to stop working if the fuel crisis continues.
Roadrunners and Speedline are two taxi services in the city that have been severely affected with drivers not being able to get fuel.
Some drivers have been unable to go to work because they are trying to save fuel for personal use and after hours of waiting to get fuel and panic buying, some drivers haven’t been able to get fuel for work without waiting hours.
Mohammed from Speedline said the company may have to close “until further notice” because of the lack of drivers if things don’t change by as early as this weekend.
He added that the average waiting time for a taxi has gone from 15minutes to nearly an hour due to the fuel crisis.
“We have some drivers not working," he said.
“Some that had full fuel tanks already but basically we’re running with half a fleet at the moment. We’ve got customers waiting an average of an hour, the demand for taxis is there but there’s no drivers. There’s nothing we can do.
“Normally, our waiting time is 15 minutes but since the fuel crisis, the average has gone up to about 50 minutes for a taxi.
“We’ve stopped taking long journeys, no drivers are willing to go out of the local area (in case they run out of fuel).
“We don’t know what we’re going to do. Everywhere is having the same problem. You can’t do much, there’s no point doing the jobs when you can’t offer the service.
“Let's hope it's sorted by the end of the week. We will basically have to close service until further notice. We run on fuel, there's nothing for us to do.
“The drivers are saving the fuel a lot of people have kids who go school they’re trying to keep the fuel for personal use.
“Touch wood they sort it out by the weekend.”
The company based in Burmatofts is hoping things get better in the next few days, Mohammed added that a handful of drivers who live locally have had to help elderly customers especially those with mobility problems, who have used the service for years get their shopping.
A manager from Roadrunners, located in Cross Gates, said since September 25, some drivers had to “come off the road” due to the situation.
When a driver reaches a station that has had a delivery, some drivers haven’t been able to top up because it has all gone by the time they get there, they added.
They said: “We’re having issues, sometimes drivers can’t find petrol. They’re waiting in long queues, it's having a knock-on effect. Some are waiting two hours (for fuel).
“We’re finding it a bit hard but we’re hopeful (things will change).”
On Saturday, Roadrunners posted on their social media: “We would just like to inform our customers that our services are currently being affected by the "fuel situation" we currently find ourselves in.
“Our drivers are having to come off the road, being prevented from coming to work due to not being able to get the fuel they need or driving round multiple stations to fill up, due to people unnecessarily panic buying fuel from stations.
“We will continue to service our community as much as we can but please bear with us.”
Yesterday (Tuesday) Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the situation on the filling station forecourts is “stabilising” as he urged motorists to go about their business in the normal way.
He said: “We now are starting to see the situation improve, we’re hearing from industry that supply is coming back onto the forecourt in the normal way.
“And I would just really urge everybody to just go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way when you really need it and you know, things will start to improve.
“What we want to do is make sure that we have all the preparations necessary to get through to Christmas and beyond, not just in the supply in the petrol stations, but all parts of our supply chain.”
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