Residents in Kirriemuir have been left unable to refuel at the Angus burgh’s only petrol station after its pumps run dry at 4pm on Saturday.
The garage confirmed to The Courier that it had run out of fuel and was not expecting a delivery until 11am on Monday – 43 hours after the pumps first run dry.
It follows apparent panic buying across the country sparked by news that a handful of forecourts would close due to problems delivering fuel.
One local in Kirriemuir said he had been trying to travel from Balintore to Dundee train station so he could travel on to London.
“We are trying to get to Dundee train station from our cottage at Balintore so we can go overnight to a funeral in London of one of my old work colleagues.
“I’ve got a bit of emergency diesel in a can but I don’t know if it’s going to be enough,” he said.
Blaming Brexit, he added: “It feels like Brexapocalypse. But of course, it’s going to be much worse for NHS staff and emergency workers and people who can’t get their children to school.
“The UK government’s failures are creating a shambles.”
We reported on Friday how the pumps at the garage in Kirriemuir, the only one local to the area, had been busy with people seen queuing up to refuel.
A staff member at the garage said on Sunday that they had a delivery of fuel planned on Monday at 11am.
One local resident said they had refueled after reading about the problems last week.
“I didn’t really want to do this and add to the panic buying situation but I felt, like many others in this community, that I had no alternative.
“We only have the one fuel station in Kirrie that serves thousands of people in the town and surrounding farms and glens.
“I travel to work in Dundee and can’t risk running out of fuel with no alternative available.
Government action announced to tackle HGV driver shortage
“Many others also had the same idea and when I got there the forecourt was packed with cars,” they told The Courier.
A shortage of HGV drivers in the UK has been blamed for difficulties experienced by companies in keeping fuel and goods moving.
The Scottish Government has called for urgent action from London to tackle labour shortages, including the introduction of 24-month temporary workers visas.
Following warnings from the industry of severe disruption to supply chains because of the driver shortage, the UK Government announced a package of measures in a bid to solve the problem.
Over 10,000 HGV drivers and food processing workers from abroad will be allowed to come to the UK and work until Christmas Eve.
Up to 4,000 people will also be able to take advantage of training courses to become HGV drivers as part of the programme, according to the announcement.
