What the papers say – September 27
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Petrol panic buying is the main story in the national papers, with the Government reportedly considering sending in the Army to help.
The Daily Mirror casts the fuel situation as a “shambles” in its headline, with the paper adding Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “warned in June about the driver shortfall and did nothing”.
The Independent says at least half of non-motorway petrol stations are “believed to have run dry after a weekend of panic-buying by anxious drivers”.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, meanwhile, has insisted there is “no shortage of fuel” and blamed hauliers for the panic at petrol pumps, according to Metro.
Senior ministers will meet on Monday to discuss deploying the Army to drive fuel tankers, report the i, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
The Times has been told soldiers are likely to be put on notice to enact the petrol transportation plan “within days”.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith insists in the Daily Express that it is coronavirus, and not Brexit, that is to blame for the hold-ups in fuel and food in Britain.
“Greedy fuel bosses” are decried by the Daily Star, with the paper reporting some petrol stations increased fuel prices as drivers queued outside.
Meanwhile, a Daily Mail reporter spent six weeks undercover at a motorway control room and found 10% of “vital” safety cameras “are not working”.
And Downing Street is planning to cut the graduate salary threshold for paying back student loans, according to the Financial Times.
