Motorists are being urged to hold their nerve as fears of a tanker driver strike continue to spark panic buying at petrol stations across the country.
First Minister Alex Salmond stressed the need for ”cool heads” as he said: ”I think more Government preparation is what is required to promote calm and orderly behaviour in the population at large.”
Even though no strike has been called yet and there would need to be seven days’ notice of such a move sales of both petrol and diesel have spiked after the UK Government advised people to keep their tanks topped up.
Petrol sales shot up 81% and diesel 43%, according to the Petrol Retailers Association which represents around 5,500 UK garages.
Across Courier country there were long queues on Thursday as drivers laid siege to petrol stations with many running dry. And there are reports of similar scenes today, as motorists look to fill up for the weekend.
The situation was particularly bad in Fife and Dundee on Thursday, with long queues of vehicles. One motorist in Fife described the situation as ”chaos”.
Moves to start talks to avert a strike have been stepped up, but the conciliation service Acas said discussions between the Unite union and the seven distribution companies will not take place until Monday.
The UK Government’s Cobra emergency committee met on Thursday to discuss the issue, with Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney taking part.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, Mr Salmond said: ”I want to reinforce those who are calling for cool heads in this situation. I would urge both sides to resolve the dispute, for which no strike dates have yet been called. The priority is surely preventing a strike, not issuing unwise advice about jerry cans.”Long queues in DundeeDundee was in a fuel-buying frenzy on Thursday evening as motorists swamped filling stations in defiance of pleas to stick to their normal purchasing habits.
As motorists bought more fuel, supplies at filling stations ran out. A tour of filling stations across the city found the two Asda sites at Milton of Craigie and Kirkton closed as their stocks of petrol and diesel emptied.
The Esso station at Barnhill ran out of unleaded and demand at Sainsbury’s and Tesco Kingsway was so overwhelming that bus services were disrupted.
Tailbacks of vehicles waiting to fill up at the pumps extended so far and caused so much congestion that National Express Dundee services were unable to keep to timetables at Claypotts and Kingsway Retail Park.
Sainsbury’s management saw the traffic problem become so bad that they set up an emergency detour system round their car park for vehicles queuing for the filling station to prevent the road network outside from becoming gridlocked.
Tesco’s other stations at Riverside and South Road were also very busy, with queues of anxious motorists spilling well beyond the forecourts.
To preserve stocks and slow down the rate of sale, Tesco shut individual pumps a tactic also adopted by Morrisons.
The independent stations whose prices are slightly higher than the supermarkets were less busy but they did report brisker trade than normal.
A spokeswoman for Tesco said: ”Customers are buying more fuel and we are experiencing an increase in sales in some areas. Our customers can be assured our fuel supply chain is working hard to meet the increase in demand.”
Asda claimed their competitively priced fuel had prompted customers to fill their tanks at their stations. She said: ”We’re working flat out behind the scenes to keep petrol in stock. We apologise to our customers in Dundee if they find some pumps are running low.
”We’d encourage customers to heed the advice of the AA. There are no strike dates planned and there would be seven days’ notice should there be any industrial action so there’s no need for customers to change their petrol buying routines.”
Morrisons said they were well prepared with strong supplies, but to make stocks last as long as possible the company pleaded with customers not to panic-buy. A spokeswoman stated: ”We encourage customers to stick to their normal buying behaviour.”
At Morrisons, support worker Douglas Meldrum (30) admitted he had filled up in case there is a fuel drivers’ strike. He added: ”I think people are right to be concerned but they are also panic-buying because of what happened last time.”
Damien Birch (43) of Blairgowrie said he had travelled to the store because fuel was cheaper than in the Perthshire town. He was also filling up jerry cans as a precaution.
Fred Jackson (66) of Stobswell said: ”Everybody is dependent on their cars, so people will want petrol especially coming up to the Easter weekend.”’Crazy’ scenes in FifeDrivers laid siege to filling stations across Fife with a number of forecourts running dry. Many motorists ignored pleas for calm and the panic-buying brought many garage forecourts to a stand-still with supplies at some garages running out by early afternoon.
In scenes reminiscent of the fuel protests of 2000, long queues were being reported in the morning at various petrol stations as people filled up their vehicles.
One of the worst affected areas was west Fife where one motorist described the situation in the afternoon as ”chaos”.
At lunchtime the forecourt at Shell in Rosyth was packed with queuing cars. By 2pm Asda at Halbeath had completely run out of fuel and was turning cars away.
Tesco at Duloch, Dunfermline, had a tanker in at lunchtime with the waiting queues of traffic stretching right around the car park.
”It’s just panic!” one motorist told The Courier. ”It actually makes no sense. People are sitting here in queues with the engines running using up fuel. It’s crazy!”
At the Wemyssfield filling station in Kirkcaldy, a spokeswoman said it had been ”very busy” and she expected supplies of all petrol to run out by the end of the day.
The Jet filling station in Bothwell Street, Dunfermline, reported a busy spell on Wednesday evening but by Thursday it was said to be ”not so bad”. A spokeswoman said: ”It’s been busier than normal today with some people filling right up, but we seem to be keeping on top of the situation.”
Fife provost Frances Melville Tweeted to say there were long queues at Morrisons in Glenrothes, and panic gripped motorists in St Andrews, with the Shell garage at Bridge Street running out of diesel by lunchtime.
Fraser Renfrew, a driver with St Andrews Taxis, told The Courier he had managed to fill up in the morning. But by afternoon it was taking at least half an hour to queue at St Andrews Morrisons and he was ”angered” to see people filling up jerrycans.
”I think that’s wrong and I think people are panicking prematurely,” he said.
Mike Taggart, the proprietor of Crail and East Neuk Taxis, said he was not unduly worried about a shortage of fuel at this stage because ”fuel could always be got from somewhere”. But the former haulier, who helped organise the fuel blockades of 2000, said he would rather the strikes went ahead if it helped bring ”crippling” fuel prices down.
Queues of people drummed their fingers impatiently while the tills rang red hot in Angus.
Waiting at the Shell garage in Forfar, teaching assistant Lorna Flett said she fears the worst for her wallet and her watch, as a daily commute to Montrose could add to the already fair length of time she spends at the pumps.
She said: ”I’m already £100 a month worse off than when I started my job a couple of years ago. The hassle of paying even more because of someone else’s problem, plus this is making me late home, is a bit hard to swallow.”
Arbroath taxi driver Bob Malcom said he was not pleased with the rise in petrol costs, and he he had also taken to filling up outside peak hours.
”You notice the extra fiver here and there every week, and there’s a few times every year when those extra fivers get added on to your fuel bill,” he said. ”I fill up at night which is all right if you can do it.”