Petrol stations turning cars away from pumps

Filling stations were today turning cars away and others limiting top-up amounts as pumps across the Midlands start to run dry.

Fuel bosses across the region said business had tripled as panic-buying motorists once again headed to the pumps from the early hours to fill up amid fears of a strike by tanker drivers.

In Cannock, the Shell filling station at Longford island on the A5 was closed today, with blocks on pumps and barriers preventing motorists from entering the forecourt.

The Murco garage on the A5190 Cannock Road was expecting to run out of fuel this afternoon, and manager Sri Selliah said he did not know when his next delivery would arrive.

At the Sainsbury's filling station on Voyager Drive at the Orbital Retail Centre, Cannock, drivers were queuing the 100 yards back to the traffic island on Orbital Way.

Sales assistant Emma Hayes said they had run out of super unleaded but supplies of both diesel and unleaded petrol had been delievered at 6am today.

Staff at Shelfield Service Station, in Lichfield Road, Walsall, said petrol ran out last night.

Cashier Mohammed Salloo said: "We've got no petrol at all. We are getting a delivery this afternoon.

"We've only got 2,000 litres of diesel left. People who would regularly come in and put £10 of petrol in are filling up their tanks to the max.

"We have kept the same prices – 138.9 for petrol and 145.9 for diesel – and there's no limit of how much petrol people can buy."

Manager Rav Singh from the Blakenhall Service Station in Dudley Road, Wolverhampton, said he had called the distribution centre and the first delivery they could book was not until next Friday – April 6.

He said they were expecting to run out. "The situation has got really bad today," he said.

"At this rate we are going to run out very soon.

"The amount people are filling up is huge – it's been going crazy. People are calling ahead to see if we have any supplies. 1We are thinking of setting a limit so it lasts longer."