Fuel crisis: Pumps run dry as panicked drivers flood the forecourts

FUEL stations in Scotland have run dry as panic buying continued among worried motorists ahead of a looming strike by tanker drivers and controversial advice to fill up by the UK government.

Sales of petrol have almost doubled in recent days as drivers descended on forecourts in order to stock up.

Some stations in the south of England were shut on police orders in a bid to avert lengthy queues, as the coalition government faced continued criticism for its handling of the crisis.

Fire chiefs also issued a fresh warning over the “hazards” of stockpiling fuel in jerrycans at home, following the controversial advice of UK Cabinet minister Francis Maude

But there was fresh hope of a breakthrough with the Unite union and the seven contractors at the heart of the dispute expected to get round the table early next week for talks with the conciliation body Acas.

Unions are required to give at least seven days notice before a walkout, meaning any strike is at least ten days away. Tesco in Colinton, Edinburgh, was among the first garages in Scotland to run out of unleaded petrol yesterday.

Gillespie’s in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, also ran out of unleaded by mid-afternoon and was also running low on diesel. The Asda in Glasgow’s Govan area also recorded widespread queues with drivers forced to wait 20 minutes for fuel.

Increased sales of fuel from the panic buying will bring in more than £32 million in extra fuel excise duty, it was estimated.

The AA calculated the figure after news that petrol sales shot up by 81 per cent and diesel by 43 per cent as motorists flocked to garages across the UK to fill up ahead of a possible strike by fuel tanker drivers.

Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the The Scottish Motor Trade Association, which represents about 200 garages around the country, called for calm.

“Panic buying is happening, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said.

Mr Robertson said that “doesn’t surprise” him in the aftermath of Cabinet Secretary Francis Maude’s comments yesterday when he advised motorists to fill up on extra supplies in jerrycans.

Mr Robertson added: “You could maybe understand it a couple of days before the strike, but to panic buy now is plain silly – that’s what causes the shortage. When people rush to the forecourt, you’re going to get places running dry.”

AA president Edmund King said: “There is no fuel tanker strike and therefore if drivers followed normal fuel buying patterns there would be no fuel shortage whatsoever.

“We now have self-inflicted shortages due to poor advice about topping up the tank and hoarding in jerrycans. This in turn has led to localised shortages, queues and some profiteering at the pumps.”

There was a run on jerrycans as motorists took the controversial advice of Mr Maude to stockpile fuel and motoring organisations laid the blame for the panic buying firmly at the door of the government. But assistant chief officer Lewis Ramsay of the Chief Fire Officers Association of Scotland said: “Clearly any form of flammable liquid stored in the home or indeed in garages or outbuildings presents a potential hazard to both occupiers and firefighters.”