The record increase in fuel prices could lead to a mass exodus of employees who rely on their vehicles to work, warn unions and drivers.
On Thursday, the price of a liter of unleaded petrol reached 182.31 pence, which means that the price of refueling an average family car reached £ 100 for the first time. Some employees who have to drive for their work spend up to £ 350 a week on fuel, while others “pay to go to work”.
The GMB union warned that the increase had “crushed” its members and said that the shortage of staff in the transport and healthcare industries “will worsen as prices continue to rise”.
An NHS community official told the Observer that the rise in fuel prices had exceeded the reimbursement they had been given for petrol costs, so staff now pay not only to get to work but also to drive to patients to get the job done.
Tiffany, another health worker in the community, said fuel now makes up the bulk of her spending each month – nearly £ 250 – only £ 171 of which is reimbursed by the NHS.
She said the rising costs, mixed with the fact that the refueling from the NHS came at the end of the month, meant she had to borrow money from her partner.
“My whole team is exhausted,” she said. “Morality is the worst in about 10 years. To be honest with you, I feel worse now than I did during Covid. I could work at a cash register in Aldi and get paid more. ”
The NHS waiting list in England reached a record 6.4 million last month. The total staff shortage has reached approximately 110,000.
Fuel shortages led to huge queues at gas stations last fall. Photo: David Liven / The Guardian
The Observer also spoke to taxi and private hired drivers who were forced to take a second job or work six days a week to cover fuel costs.
“There are a lot of people who need help, but it’s not coming,” said Paul Sweeney, a London taxi driver who is losing £ 300 a month due to higher fuel costs despite driving a hybrid electric vehicle. “A lot of people haven’t returned to trading after Covid because of what’s happening. Where will we be in five years if this continues? ”
According to the latest data, the shortage of both Uber and taxi drivers in London is around 10,000 after the mass exodus during Covid, which drivers say continues to worsen.
Couriers and other minibus drivers are also severely affected. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Friday, one said: “I got to the point where I decided to look for another job… I watch people who have been doing this for 16 years saying, ‘This is, this is my last day ‘. When I turned that day, it was 108 pounds and I could cry because I know how much work I will have to do now before I make money. ”
Inflation in the United Kingdom reached a 40-year high of 9% in April. The Bank of England expects it to reach 10% before the end of the year. In October, the ceiling on energy prices is expected to rise by 42%, from £ 1,971 to more than £ 2,801, another increase from the £ 700 increase recorded in April.
“GMB members, like everyone else, are overwhelmed by skyrocketing energy bills, big jumps in food and fuel prices of almost £ 2 a liter,” said GMB Secretary General Gary Smith.
“Record gasoline prices now mean that NHS community workers, home caregivers, taxi drivers and others who are on their way to work are literally paying to go to work. This cannot be right.
“No wonder we are seeing a huge shortage of staff in many of these industries – and this will only get worse as prices continue to rise.”
Christina Macanea, secretary general of Unison, warned on Friday that some union members were likely to go on strike in the coming months as a result of higher costs.
“We don’t want to strike low-paid workers,” she said. “But if there is no alternative, what else can people do?”
Cases
Nader Awaad spends £ 350 a week on fuel. Photo: Andy Hall / The Observer
Uber driver Nader Awaad said he now spends £ 350 a week on fuel and had to take on another job to try to make ends meet.
He said the increase in fuel prices, along with the alleged changes in the share of each fare given to drivers, means he can afford to accept only 8% of the trips offered to him in the app. The other 92% were too short a distance to make money.
As a result, he said he now had to take on a second job, picking up and returning from the airport, which left him working from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“Most drivers are in the same boat. “Uber doesn’t want their prices to reflect rising costs because they want to keep the idea that they are cheap and affordable,” he said. “How can you work for a company if? [have to] do you turn down more jobs than you take on? ”
Previously, Awaad, the organizer of the IWGB union, would pay only £ 200 a week to refuel his Mercedes.
“This is the money I lose from my total income,” he said. “It’s very challenging right now [to make ends meet]. We have to keep working, we have to keep making a living, we have to keep fighting. ”
“We’re in a situation where we just can’t afford to keep driving to do our job for free,” said Vicki, an NHS maternity officer.
For her work, Vicky visits patients in their homes, often driving up to 50 minutes between visits.
While the NHS is offering a refueling of 20 pence per mile after the first 3,500 miles, fuel now costs 22 pence per mile based on the car’s average fuel consumption, which means Vicki and her colleagues have to pay to do their jobs. .
“I spend more time in the car than I can in people’s homes some days,” she said, adding that she and her colleagues regularly drive more than 10,000 miles a year on business. “We have a very short staff, so we all have to drive extra miles. We drive 45-50 minutes for one visit. Especially since we are in rural areas. ”
Vicky added that even in normal years, a change in the subsidy would “cripple” NHS community support staff, but that rising fuel prices have left her and her colleagues on the brink.
“You feel like you’re watching your dashboard and fuel gauge as you drive, trying to drive at your best,” she said. “You feel frustrated with your colleagues when they ask you to go somewhere [you] I have to say, “I’m at 20 pence a mile, and that’s 45 minutes, can anyone else go?”
“I have a feeling we have been forgotten,” she added. “There was applause for a key worker, but now people don’t think about key workers struggling to put £ 100 a week in car fuel.
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