MANY DRIVERS were still panic-buying petrol and putting filling stations under pressure yesterday as talks to avert a strike at the Grangemouth oil refinery broke down.

A two-day strike by up to 1200 workers will now go ahead on Sunday and Monday, threatening fuel supplies.

Officials from Unite had met with bosses from Ineos, which owns the Grangemouth plant, at the conciliation service Acas, but the union announced there had been no breakthrough.

The strike has been called in protest at plans by Ineos to close its final salary pension scheme to new workers and to make other changes to its pensions.

A union spokesman said, “Unite’s negotiators were disappointed with the company’s refusal to withdraw controversial pensions plans, and therefore the two-day strike will go ahead.”

He added, “Acas has advised both parties of their availability should assistance be required.”

A statement from Acas said that although the two sides had not come to an agreement, time had been spent addressing the issue of safety and the integrity of the Grangemouth site during the strike.

It said, “An agreement covering these issues has been reached for the period of the dispute.

“Acas has advised both the company and Unite that the opportunity to seek assistance of Acas to pursue an agreement has been offered.”

Ineos has already started shutting down Grangemouth and warned of fuel shortages from later this week if the strike went ahead.

Meanwhile, a Kirkcaldy petrol station accused of profiteering from fuel panic buying is still selling at an inflated rate, despite widespread anger from locals and calls for a reversal, writes Graeme Bletcher.

The town’s Bridgeton garage came under fire from motorists when unleaded petrol and diesel went up by 20p over the weekend, peaking at £1.45 per litre when many locals were rushing to fill up their tanks.

Prices dropped on Monday, but still remain high at £1.20 for unleaded and £1.30 for diesel—each five pence more than before the threat of strike action at Grangemouth triggered the scramble.

Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said that if a garage suddenly put its prices up by four or five pence it would suggest profiteering.

He said, “I wouldn’t say it’s the panic-buying stage yet, but people are buying more than they normally buy—they are going beyond their normal £10 or £20 cycle and filling a tank.”

David Chalmers, chairman of the Fife Federation of Small Businesses, said, “It certainly does appear to be profiteering, although I see they have reduced their prices again fairly quickly following adverse comments.”

He continued, “We have got to look at taxation on fuel—the price of diesel is already too high and the cost of transporting goods around the country just seems to keep on escalating.”

Tony Martin, chairman of Fife Council’s environment and transport committee, said, “It is deeply disappointing—garages should be keeping their prices as competitive as possible, not looking to take advantage of the situation.

“Some garages may restrict the amount that can be purchased, but the Grangemouth situation shouldn’t effect prices at all.”

A spokesman for Bridge-ton garage said, “We were charging £1.45 and £1.25 on Monday night because of a misunderstanding with the computer—it was only for 20 minutes until the computer was reset.”

The AA said motorists should not panic, despite the breakdown of talks.

Paul Watters, the AA’s head of public affairs, said, “I don’t suppose this news has come as a massive surprise as it has been quite a public airing of the issues and the positions of both sides were quite strong in terms of taking a hard line.

“I think motorists in Scotland are going to be wondering what on earth is going to happen—but there still is no reason for people to panic.

“We have to put our trust in the petroleum industry to keep Scotland’s pumps filled—they have said they can do that and the proof of the pudding will play out over the next week or so.”

He saidEngland had coped with fuel shortages after the fire at the Coryton refinery in Essex and the explosion at Buncefield.

He added, “What motorists don’t need to do is to keep their tanks full—they should keep filling the normal amount.”

Ineos said it now had no option but to completely shut down the Grangemouth site to make sure it was safe.

The company said it was working with the government to minimise the impact of the industrial action and accused Unite of rejecting proposals to resolve the dispute.

It had put forward “significant” new proposals during the talks at Acas to try to prevent the strike from going ahead.

The company claimed it had offered to take all the changes to the pension scheme off the table and make them the subject of a three-month discussion so that the strike threat would be removed— although future new employees would be removed.

Tom Crotty, Ineos chief executive, said, “We have done everything we can to resolve this dispute.

“Our latest offer to suspend all proposed changes to the existing pension scheme is just another example of us bending over backwards to bring this conflict to an end.

“The plain fact is that the union seems hell bent on pursuing a strike that will cause chaos and disruption for the people of Scotland and across the UK.”

Ineos said safety was now a top priority and it will ensure Grangemouth is safe throughout the dispute following an agreement with the union that will see the supply of services continue to secure fuel for emergency services.

The company said it would now close down Grangemouth on Saturday evening.