Is United Kingdom facing a winter of discontent?

Britain, this is the season of shortages: Milkshakes are off the menu for weeks at McDonald's, chicken has been in short supply at KFC, some gas stations have run out of fuel and there are gaps on supermarket shelves. Suppliers have warned that there could be more shortages of petrol because of a lack of drivers to transport fuel from refineries to retail outlets.

The problems have several causes, but one stands out: There just aren't enough truck drivers. The UK is short of tens of thousands of drivers, as factors including Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic converge to create a supply-chain crunch.

For months supermarkets and farmers have warned that a shortage of truck drivers was straining supply chains to breaking point - making it harder to get goods onto shelves. BP and Esso shut a handful of their stations in Britain this week because there were not enough truckers to get gas to the pumps. EG Group, which operates about 400 U.K. gas stations, said it was limiting purchases to 30 pounds ($41).

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has insisted that there will be no return to the 1970s when Britain was cast by allies as the "sick man of Europe" with three-day weeks, energy shortages and rampant inflation. But as ministers urged the public not to panic buy, some of Britain's biggest supermarkets have warned that a shortage of truck drivers could lead to just that ahead of Christmas.

British government is now expected to ease visa rules for truck drivers to help fix supply-chain problems. The government said late Friday it was “looking at temporary measures to avoid any immediate problems.” It said any action it took would be “very strictly time-limited.”