RAF MILDENHALL, England — Three days of fuel blockades across England scheduled to begin Wednesday are not expected to affect customers who buy gas on base, the general manager of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service in the United Kingdom said Tuesday.
British protesters across the country said they would begin disrupting traffic on at least one major highway and one port to protest the rising cost of gas, which has reached the equivalent of nearly $7 a gallon. Newspapers reported long lines at the pump at stations in many cities in anticipation of the protest.
But Mora said the distributor AAFES uses to get its gas assured military officials that the flow of gas to U.S. military bases in the country would not be affected.
“The distributor said that we should not be worried,” Richard Mora said. “They don’t anticipate any disruptions or delays.”
Mora said the protests were not expected to reach the magnitude of the 2000 blockade, when protesters across the country shut off supply routes and created long lines at the pump. During that blockade, customers at AAFES stations waited in line for gas and were limited to buying $10 of gas at a time.
During shortages, military bases throughout the country get high priority, Mora said, meaning gas reaches bases before it reaches gas stations in nearby towns.
Just in case, AAFES topped off the gas tanks at its six stations across England on Monday and Tuesday, Mora said.
“We’ve got two to three days’ worth of fuel,” Mora said. “So we’re in good shape.”
