That uncertain filling: Long queues as worried drivers seek to stockpile fuel

At one Shell petrol station in Harrogate Road, Leeds, drivers queued for up to an hour to fill their tanks, before petrol and standard diesel ran out completely.

The AA calculated UK petrol sales had risen by 81 per cent and diesel by 43 per cent.

There has also been a run on jerry cans as worried motorists take heed of controversial advice from Cabinet Minister Francis Maude to stockpile fuel ahead of a possible strike by tanker drivers.

At the only petrol station in Hawes, North Yorkshire, supplies of petrol ran out yesterday afternoon despite the owner rationing fuel earlier in the day.

In Ilkley, where there are two petrol stations, one had run dry while queues formed at the second, on the opposite side of the road.

A motorist was asked to leave the forecourt of one after he snatched the pump out of the hand of a female driver, a witness said.

Motoring organisations blamed the Government for causing the surge in panic buying.

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 jerry cans. This in turn has led to localised shortages, queues and some profiteering at the pumps.”

Energy Secretary Ed Davey urged people to take “precautions” and said fuel tanks should be kept two-thirds full.

Retail store Halfords reported “extraordinary high” demand for fuel cans with sales of jerry cans up by more than 500 per cent.