Petrol shortages ‘remain serious’
Shortages at petrol stations remain "serious" due to fuel not being delivered where it is needed, retailers have warned.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, claimed a "large majority" of forecourts did not know when they would receive their next delivery. He said: "There are many reports of wet sites quickly going dry because the continuity of tankers remains out of kilter with orders. the situation in London and the South East remains serious."
Mr Madderson said there had been "a welcome improvement" in the region over the weekend with 10 per cent of non-motorway sites running out of fuel, which was "not far behind the rest of the country".
The figure was based on a survey of a quarter of petrol stations.
He cited figures from motoring research charity the RAC Foundation which indicated that filling stations in London and the South East were used more intensely than those elsewhere. Mr Madderson said: "These filling stations therefore need to be refuelled more often. The need to refuel filling stations in London and the South East is even more necessary when customers panic buy, because there are more cars to be filled per station there than the GB average."
A Government spokesman said: "Thanks to interventions we have made, forecourt stocks have substantially improved in all regions of the UK. We continue to work closely with industry to help increase stocks further. as the industry has said, we have ample fuel reserves and the return of normal buying habits by the public has reduced the exceptional demand seen in previous weeks."