Motorists with 'petrol rage' will be arrested for fights at filling stations, Khan warns
29 September 2021, 18:30
Sadiq Khan warns of consequences of 'petrol rage' amid fuel crisis
Sadiq Khan has warned that people with "petrol rage" will be arrested for brawls amid chaos at the pumps.
It comes as fights have broken out at several petrol station forecourts across the country, due to the fuel crisis entering its sixth day.
The Mayor of London told LBC's Theo Usherwood he had spoken with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick about a "whole host of issues", including how to prevent the situation spiralling further out of control.
"The vast majority of Londoners are behaving peacefully and keeping within the law," he explained.
"A very, very small minority are getting angry - 'petrol rage' - to that small minority, when a criminal offence is committed, action will be taken.
"Any social media which shows criminal offences being committed is looked at by police.
"People will be followed through. They will be arrested. They will be charged."
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Five men were filmed fighting in Epping just before lunchtime on Saturday, throwing punches at one another as the confrontation escalated.
Meanwhile, another clip shared to Instagram showed a man approaching a car with what appeared to be a knife by his side, shouting at a driver who was believed to have jumped the queue.
The panic-buying frenzy has seen backed up queues for petrol stations across the country, as the shortage of HGV drivers has led to delays in fuel deliveries.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said on Monday that some military tanker drivers had been put on standby and undergone specialist training so they could be drafted in to deliver petrol if the supply chain issues continued.
