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Today's live page posts were written by Lauren Turner, Joseph Lee and Hazel Shearing.

They were edited by James Clarke and John Hand.

We'll be bringing our coverage of the fuel supply issues in Britain to a close for the day shortly. Here's what you need to know if you're just catching up:

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said "we now are starting to see the situation improve", with fuel deliveries coming on to the forecourts, and urged people to go about their business normally
• His comments came as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on the government to prioritise fuel for key workers and begin issuing visas to lorry drivers from overseas
• Earlier, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected criticism that ministers have been too slow to mobilise the Army to tackle the problems with fuel supplies
• The government has also authorised an extension to special driver licences that allow drivers to transport goods such as fuel
• Motoring group the RAC said the price of a litre of unleaded petrol had risen by a penny since Friday to an eight-year high - and there had been a "sharp increase" in members breaking down because they have run out of fuel
• But most bus and coach services have not been affected by the fuel supply issues, according to the Confederation of Passenger Transport
• And the Petrol Retailers Association says it is seeing some evidence the number of cars visiting petrol stations is beginning to stabilise.

Parents and children with special needs in Brent, north-west London, felt the impact of the petrol supply issues when their school bus was cancelled this morning.

A text message sent at 7:15 BST to parents at the Village School said the service could not run due to panic-buying in the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Burcu Akin said she was held up in an hour-long traffic jam, caused by motorists queuing at petrol stations, as she tried to get her autistic 10-year-old daughter to school.

“It’s a huge deal for us. It’s very disruptive for an autistic child. She thinks we are back in Covid," she said.

“She will be unsettled all day and will not know what is happening to her this afternoon. I don’t even know if my child will get picked up today.”

Speaking to broadcasters, the prime minister is asked about the range of issues facing the UK - including gas price rises, HGV driver shortages, food shortages and the fuel supply problems - and whether the country was in a crisis.

Boris Johnson says: "What we’ve got is a global economy that is recovering from a once-in-a-century pandemic that has caused some particular shortages."

He mentions gas and HGV drivers and says the issues are a "function of huge global demand", adding: "But we’re meeting them."

"We have all sorts of plans to make sure that as we go forward into the new year we have everything necessary to correct our supply chains and keep things moving," the prime minister says.

The government didn't have a "plan" when it came to lorry drivers as the UK left the European Union, Starmer adds.

Speaking about fuel supply issues to Channel 5 News in Brighton, where the Labour Party is holding its conference, he says: "I wouldn't say that Brexit is to blame. What I would say is that it was inevitable as we exited the EU that we needed a plan to deal with drivers.

"That is obvious whether you voted Remain or voted Leave, and we took that decision years ago."

He adds: "And here we are with a shortage of drivers which was completely predictable and predicted - and the government hasn't got a plan."

Image source, PA Media

We've just heard from Boris Johnson who has rejected the idea of key workers getting priority access to fuel supplies. But the prime minister should prioritise fuel for key workers and begin issuing visas to lorry drivers from overseas, according to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The opposition leader tells the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg the government "is not gripping this" and that businesses affected by the supply issues, who he spoke to earlier, are "beyond frustrated".

Sir Keir criticises the government's measures to give temporary visas, lasting until Christmas Eve, to 5,000 fuel tanker and food lorry drivers and 5,500 poultry workers - announced in a bid to limit disruption in the build-up to Christmas.

"At the moment, there aren't enough visas, and there was some talk this morning on the discussions I had that the visas may not even begin until November," he says.

"The prime minister should take that action today, prioritise key workers and start issuing enough visas and for long enough."

Starmer adds: "The strong view this morning was that the three month visas won't work, they're going to have to be six months visas. But this problem was predictable and predicted and the government has absolutely failed to plan."

Earlier, Labour said it agreed with health and social care workers that they should have priority for fuel supplies.

But the prime minister rejects that idea, saying: "With the situation now stabilising and things getting better on the forecourts, the best thing is that we stabilise it in the normal way."

He blames the apparent panic buying at the petrol pumps on a "slightly misleading" leak, which people responded to in a "totally understandable" way.

Johnson says the shortage of HGV drivers in the fuel sector is "not very big".

But he adds: "I don’t think people want to fix alll our problems with uncontrolled immigration again."

He says that leads to a "low-wage, low-skill approach".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he sympathises with people who have been unable to get fuel, calling it "frustrating and infuriating".

But he says "we now are starting to see the situation improve" with deliveries coming on to the forecourts.

He urges people to "go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way when you need it, and things will start to improve".

The crisis reflects "shortages around the world", he says, and says the government has "got to make sure we have everything in place as the recovery continues".

The prime minister urges people to go about their business normally.

Mark Broad
Business deployment editor

A government source has confirmed reports that 16% of all petrol stations are now fully supplied with fuel, compared with 10% at the weekend during some of the worst of the fuel rush.

The source said 40% of petrol stations being fully supplied was a more normal figure before the rush on fuel.

While the figures seem to be going in the right direction, it is understood that there are other figures which don’t paint a completely positive picture.

Drivers who left the UK after Brexit will not be tempted back with the issuing of temporary visas for 5,000 foreign truck drivers, the German freight industry says.

Frank Huster, chief executive of the German Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association, has told the Reuters news agency: "The labour market on the European continent has gratefully accepted these workers - they are now lost to re-employment in the United Kingdom."

The shortage of drivers has contributed to the issues at petrol stations across the UK.

"The new UK visa regulations - especially the temporary ones - will not change this," says Huster.

Image source, Labour Party

Wales's first minister has called the UK government's plans to offer temporary visas to foreign lorry drivers "arrogant" and "exploitative".

On Saturday, the UK government announced measures to give temporary visas, lasting until Christmas Eve, to 5,000 fuel tanker and food lorry drivers and 5,500 poultry workers in a bid to limit disruption in the build-up to Christmas.

Speaking during First Minister's Questions, Mark Drakeford says the plan "won't work".

"It is hard to imagine a government that has made a more derisory attempt to solve a problem of their own creation," he says, adding that there is a shortage of the drivers because the UK government "took us out of the European Union where we were previously supplied by drivers".

"The idea that people are going to be willing to uproot themselves and come back to this country for a matter of weeks only to be told by the UK government they will be discarded again on Christmas Eve when they no longer have a use for them is simply... the arrogance of it is breathtaking," he adds.

Drakeford claims 800 people have been retrained as HGV drivers through the Welsh government's Redundancy Action Scheme (ReAct) programme since 2015, adding: "That is not going to be a solution for the short-term problems but neither is a scheme that is so exploitative of others that there is no prospect at all that it can deliver what is needed."

Image source, Colin McDonald

Hospital doctor Colin McDonald says he was worried he might not be able to travel to work because of the problems with fuel supplies on Sunday.

But the next day he managed to fill up on petrol that had been set aside for key workers.

It was hard to understand people who were stocking up with large amounts of fuel in cans, he tells the BBC.

"Seeing people fill up multiple jerry cans of fuel - I just don't understand what their mentality is," he says.

"It appears very selfish... they are just looking after themselves and not really considering the needs of others and key workers."

McDonald, who works in orthopaedics at a hospital in the East Midlands, says any delays in getting to work are likely to lead to cancellations of surgeries or fracture clinics.

"If patients live far away from the clinic they may not be able to get in, staff may not be able to get in," he says.

Image source, Mercia Police SNT

Drivers queued for hours outside a Derbyshire petrol station without realising it was closed, police have said.

Derbyshire Police were called after long queues at the Etwall Fuel Express station caused an obstruction on the A516 on Monday.

Some had been at the garage for three hours despite the forecourt being shut following vandalism.

An appeal to trace two men in a white van who threatened an officer at the scene is under way.

On Facebook, the force's safer neighbourhood team said: "With regret, officers, who were stood outside in pouring rain directing traffic, were subjected to abuse and a series of inexplicable excuses of why they needed to enter a closed garage that was unable to sell fuel."

Read more.

There are "early signs that the crisis at pumps is ending," according to the Petrol Retailers Association.

The group, which represents independent forecourts across the UK, says more of its members are "now taking further deliveries of fuel".

"Fuel stocks remain normal at refineries and terminals, although deliveries have been reduced due to the shortage of HGV drivers," it says in a statement.

It adds that 37% of forecourts have reported being out of fuel today, but that percentage "is likely to improve further over the next 24 hours".

Greg McKenzie
BBC London

I'm here in Ilford at K&S Fuels on Beehive Lane. They were fortunate - they managed to get a delivery of 18,000 litres of petrol and 18,000 litres of diesel at 4am this morning.

It's meant they've been able to provide the local community with fuel - but they're worried it might run out. They think they've got another five hours left. The tailbacks behind me are visible, they've been here ever since 6am this morning.

The average wait is half an hour but people are getting through and they are able to get their fuel here in Ilford.

We know there's about 150 army personnel on standby to help drive HGV vehicles to deliver petrol or fuel to different stations up and down the country. We know there isn't a fuel shortage.

The problem is not enough HGV drivers to deliver the fuel to petrol stations up and down the country.

Many people I've been speaking to here today say that is simply not good enough.

The head of a home care service in West Sussex tells the BBC that if the fuel supply crisis isn't resolved by next week, her company will be in breach of safeguarding guidelines for its 12 customers.

Rosemary Botting, who runs Karosel Care and Domestic Services, says: "We will be putting our service users at risk. We would not be able to send a carer out to somebody."

Two of her carers were currently searching for fuel ahead of their next shift in order to reach vulnerable people. Many of the people they work with live in rural areas, making a tank full of fuel essential, she says.

Queues at petrol pumps meant one carer had already been half an hour late for her first call, a patient who cannot get out of bed unaided.

"We got through Covid. Not a single user in our care contracted Covid. The reason I do this job is because I care. It's just a bit of a nightmare at the moment," Botting says.

Image source, Getty Images

Private hire taxi drivers are "on their knees" over the fuel issue and need help, a union says.

The GMB is calling for taxis to be classed as an essential service and has written to the Department for Transport calling for help.

National officer Mick Rix says: "The private hire industry has been hammered by the pandemic.

"Just as it begins to recover from the devastating effects of lockdowns, drivers are unable to work because they cannot get fuel.

"These drivers take patients to hospital, take children to school and are often the only way people with disabilities can get around.

"Private hire drivers are on their knees. They need help."

Some vulnerable people say they are still facing difficulties with getting the support they need due to fuel supply issues.

Sarah Jane Barnes, from Berkshire, tells the BBC that she's worried for her elderly mother, who has missed two out of three dialysis appointments because renal technicians have been unable to get enough fuel to reach her.

The dialysis treatment for Sarah's mother takes place at home overnight - when she is hooked up to a machine that removes waste products from her blood because her kidneys no longer function properly.

The first missed appointment was on Saturday. Then the technician cancelled again on Sunday, so Sarah called the hospital who were able to send someone out on that occasion.

Sarah says: "My mum is elderly and she's not well if she misses a session. But she's missed two out of three. I'm very worried."

Health and council bosses in Dorset say empty petrol pumps could lead to staff being unable to deliver care to "sick, vulnerable and dying people".

NHS Dorset CCG says increasing numbers of its health, social and hospital staff are struggling to refuel.

The council covering Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole says there is a "very serious risk" critical staff will not be able to get to work.

It's urging people to buy fuel normally and only take what they actually need.

Read more.

Image source, Fareshare Cymru

Food banks in Wales could struggle if fuel supply problems continue, a charity group is warning.

FareShare Cymru, which organises food donations to more than 150 groups, says it is facing major transport issues.

For the people who depend upon community groups and food banks across south Wales, FareShare is a "lifeline", the charity says.

Made up of 18 independent organisations, it takes surplus food from across the food industry and distributes it to front-line charities such as food banks.

"It's been a double whammy for us - transport into us with food is proving difficult and is either late or doesn't turn up, but also not having petrol to get food out," says operations manager Gerry Molan.

Read more.