AS fuel supply issues are continuing in London and south-east England, the crisis is "virtually at an end in Scotland", according to the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA).
It is hoped that bringing in the Army to drive fuel tankers will help to alleviate pressure on forecourts that are still facing supply issues.
The PRA represents almost 5500 of the 8000 filling stations across the UK and the group's chairman Brian Madderson said that fuel is "still not going to the pumps that need it most in London and the south-east".
Madderson added that the PRA is "disappointed that no concerted action is being taken" to address the continuing supply problems.
READ MORE: Fuel shortages in Scotland 'more acute' than normal but improving, John Swinney says
The association said that 6% of filling stations in Scotland, the midlands and north of England were "dry", but this rises to 22% in the south of England and London with only 60% having both petrol and diesel.
Madderson said he hopes military personnel being deployed will help to increase deliveries with the first group of 65 drivers being made available to hauliers from Monday.
There are further plans for 200 members of the army to be deployed to assist in the fuel supply crisis including 100 drivers.
Meanwhile businesses – from hospitality to manufacturing – continued to appeal to the Government to be put on the shortage occupation list so they could bring in the workers they needed from abroad.
In his BBC interview, Boris Johnson was pressed on a warning by Chancellor Rishi Sunak that problems in the global supply chain meant shortages could continue to Christmas.
WATCH: Boris Johnson squeals as he's grilled about pig cull by Andrew Marr
The Prime Minister replied: “Rishi is invariably right in everything he says,” before adding hurriedly: “It depends how you interpret what he is saying.”
Pressed again later on the prospects for Christmas during a visit to a youth centre, he said only that it would be “considerably better” than last year when festivities were largely cancelled due to Covid.
Johnson acknowledged the economy was facing “stresses and strains” as it moved away from the “broken model” which, he said, had been rejected by voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Asked about a warning in June by the Road Haulage Association that a major crisis was building due to the shortage of drivers, he said he had known about the problems “long before then”.
“They have been a chronic feature of the way the road haulage industry has worked,” Johnson told the BBC, adding that the way to get more drivers was to ensure they were decently paid.
READ MORE: Tories pin blame for UK-wide petrol panic on road haulage bosses
He added: “We have got to make sure people come on stream as fast as we practically can.
“When people voted for change in 2016, when they voted for change again in 2019 as they did, they voted for the end of a broken model of the UK economy that relied on low wages and low skills and chronic low productivity. We are moving away from that.
“The way forward for our country is not to just pull the big lever marked uncontrolled immigration and allow in huge numbers of people.”
The Government has agreed to grant 5000 temporary visas to lorry drivers and a further 5000 to poultry workers in an attempt to address particular shortages.
However the British Chambers of Commerce director general Shevaun Haviland said businesses were under a “huge amount of strain” and urged ministers to go further to support them through the transition period.
“We have been asking them to put certain sectors on the shortage occupation lists. We are absolutely not in any way asking for uncontrolled immigration,” she told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.
“What we know our businesses need is very sector-specific changes put in place. That is from care, hospitality, manufacturing and construction. We know we are in a transition period we need to work through that transition period.”
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