Britain will consider bringing in army drivers to help with lorry crisis

LONDON (Reuters) - British transport secretary Grant Shapps said he would consider bringing drivers in from the army to help resolve a lorry driver shortage which is affecting the supply of petrol to retail outlets.

"I will look at every possibility, every way of doing this," Shapps told the BBC on Friday.

"With regard to things like whether there's a role for military, obviously, if there is, if that actually helps we'll bring them in."

He said that changing visa rules to allow foreign drivers in would not necessarily help solve the problem.

"What I don't want to do and I've been hinting at this, is undercut with, as has happened before, cheaper European drivers, and then find our drivers drop out," he said.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by James Davey)