City petrol station ran dry in ‘hectic’ 36 hours
STAFF at a city petrol station which ran out of fuel in just a day-and-ahalf insist there is still “no reason” for drivers to panic-buy.
A number of stations across the county have closed because of people rushing to buy fuel and a shortage of lorry drivers.
Ministers have said that military drivers will be trained to prepare for possible deployment to help ease the situation.
The Texaco petrol station in Meadow Lane was without fuel as of yesterday.
Worker Nishanth Periyasamy, 25, said: “It’s really hectic now because people are panic-buying.
“I think there’s no reason to panic because there is a shortage of drivers but not a shortage of fuel.
“We are expecting a delivery but they can’t deliver as much as we need now.
“The day before yesterday we got the delivery of about 80,000 litres, we ran out in a day and a half.”
Queues have formed at stations including Asda in West Bridgford and Esso off the A52 in Bingham as drivers attempted to fill up their tanks.
Business leaders and the teaching union NASUWT have raised concerns over the potential disruption to businesses and the education sector.
But financial expert Mike Owens, global sales trader at Saxo Markets, said he expected garages to be “sufficiently re-supplied” in the next few days.
He said: “The logistical problems affecting petrol providers may have caused plenty of people to fret while finding fuel over the weekend, but there is no actual petrol fuel shortage or sign that these delivery problems will have much more than a temporary upward impact on the price.
“At this stage you would also expect garages to be sufficiently re-supplied in the next few days and the issue to begin to resolve itself.
“Much more concerning for UK consumers is the price of both wholesale gas and oil which continue to move higher over the past weeks as demand increases and countries continue to search for supplies leading into winter.”
It has been reported that 75 military drivers are initially on standby and more could be added if needed.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “The men and women of our Armed Forces stand ready to alleviate the transport pressures where they are felt most.
“That is why I have authorised their increased preparedness so they are ready to respond if needed.”