Panic buying triggers fuel shortages

Petrol shortages worsened today as protests intensified over the high price of fuel.

Petrol shortages worsened today as protests intensified over the high price of fuel.

Hauliers and farmers, who have joined forces to blockade oil refineries, were joined by taxi drivers in several demonstrations called to demand a cut in fuel duty.

A Transport and General Workers Union leader claimed that Britain would come to a "standstill" by the end of the week unless the protests subsided.

Danny Bryan, national officer for transport, said his union was advising drivers who feared for their safety not to take lorries on to the road after incidents in which oil tankers became targets for spontaneous protests on roads as well as at refineries.

MrBryan said: "It is becoming a very serious position and unless something is done, the country will be at a standstill by the end of the week."

Stephen Byers, secretary of state for trade and industry, said there was no prospect of running out of fuel supplies. He said shortages at service stations were due to panic buying by motorists and not because blockades of refineries had disrupted deliveries.

Mr Byers said: "The difficulties that individual petrol stations have been experiencing have been the result of very heavy buying yesterday and not the result of blockades of one or two terminals."

Contingency plans were in place to maintain essential services in case of supplies ran low, he said.

However, more and more forecourts ran dry throughout the day, prompting the AA to issue a warning to drivers that storing more than three gallons of petrol was an offence which carried a maximum fine of £2,000.

Worst hit areas were:

LEEDS: dozens of petrol stations ran out of unleaded petrol and diesel and there was no unleaded petrol at all in the West Yorkshire towns of Huddersfield, Keighley and Pontefract. Several smaller filling stations thought they would run out by tomorrow.

MERSEYSIDE: more than 200 forecourts closed in the North West, where the demonstrations began last week with a blockade of a Shell oil refinery at Stanlow, Ellesmere Port. Many more service stations that remained open sold diesel only.

NEWCASTLE: there were warnings that the north of England had only enough fuel to last for a further two days as huge queues built up at petrol stations. One, at Sainsbury in Whiteley Bay, reached half a mile long.

BRISTOL: severe fuel shortages were reported across the city, which is near the site of a blockade by hauliers of an oil terminal on Avonmouth docks on the Severn Estuary.

BIRMINGHAM: long queues formed outside some service stations from early morning, with some filling stations introducing rationing of £10 worth of petrol per vehicle. A number of garages ran out of fuel or reported low stocks.

SOUTHAMPTON: police had reports of minor scuffles at filling stations across the city where petrol was being rationed. They appealed to drivers to stay calm and not panic.

PLYMOUTH: some garages ran out of fuel in the West Country and motorists queued for up to an hour to fill up at others, particularly at supermarkets. There was some rationing in Cornwall.

KENT: smaller chains of filling stations put prices up to 86.9p a litre for diesel and unleaded petrol in response to heavy demand, prompting complaints that they were exploiting public anxiety caused by the demonstrations over fuel duty.

Business and industry groups urged protesters to end the blockades, saying they were adding to the extra costs imposded by rising fuel prices.

The British Chamber of Commerce said the protests offered "no real solutions" and increased the pain for industry.

BCC director general Chris Humphries said: "Business is suffering from the high relative cost of fuel in the UK, and shares the objective of lower fuel prices.

"However, this kind of protest represents potentially a more serious threat to business competitiveness and should end now to open the way for industry talks with Government."