Fuels rush in ... the massive pump queue at Maghull in Merseyside

 

Two thirds fool - Minister's fuel advice to drivers adds to mounting petrol panic

 

THE nationwide petrol panic was fuelled again today by a minister — just a day after the Government was slammed for telling drivers to fill up jerry cans to stockpile fuel.

 

Energy minister Ed Davey told drivers that they should keep their tanks TWO THIRDS full despite fuel stations running dry with the threat of a tanker strike.

 

Lib Dem Mr Davey's comments followed widely criticised advice from Cabinet Minister Francis Maude that motorists should consider storing petrol in jerry cans at home.

 

This led to people besieging petrol stations yesterday, and they are expected to do the same today.

 

Mr Davey told BBC News: "The average tank is a third full and I think if we can increase the average maybe to two thirds, I think people should be topping up when their tanks go below, say, half-full, that sort of figure."

 

He said drivers should also fill up if they planned to go on a long trip at Easter.

 

Yesterday's chaos saw garages nationwide run out of unleaded and diesel as FIGHTS reportedly broke out at the pumps.

 

Cops had to shut filling stations as gigantic queues led to traffic mayhem.

 

Motoring experts urged calm — stressing a tanker drivers' strike might NOT actually happen and even if it does will need a week's notice.

 

But efforts to reassure the public were immediately scuppered — by Cabinet Secretary Francis Maude coming up with his jerry cans idea.

 

He blurted it out as he backed PM David Cameron's advice that drivers should ensure they have enough fuel in their vehicles.

 

Mr Maude said motorists would be wise to take the precaution of having "maybe a little bit in their garage as well in a jerry can".

 

Last night he was blasted by the Fire Brigades Union, which warned hoarding too much fuel was dangerous — and illegal.

 

It called on him to withdraw his advice. But he refused — despite Mr Cameron himself wading in to try to prevent the fiasco blowing up in his face even more. The PM — who yesterday chaired an emergency "Cobra" summit on what to do if the tanker men strike — said: "There is no need to queue to buy petrol."

 

But it was too late. Filling stations that still had fuel left were being forced to ration it — with drivers only allowed £30 worth as demand surged by 45 per cent.

Fuming motorists on Twitter accused some garages of hiking already sky-high prices by up to 8p a litre. Meanwhile jerry cans themselves started to sell out. Cardiff commuter Hazel Payne, 41 — a sales director — said: "I went to buy petrol cans but they had gone."

 

In Killingbeck, Leeds, an Asda filling station worker said of the massive queues: "Thank you very much Mr Cameron.

 

"What a silly thing for the Prime Minister to say."

 

The panic was mirrored across the UK. In Wilmslow, Cheshire, a drained garage was among the first to shut — as motorists stewing in queues at Tesco pumps in nearby Handforth Dean beeped their horns in fury. Filling station worker Adam Watkins said: "We've been taking £3,000 per hour and sold a week's worth."

 

Queuing driver James Smythe, from Macclesfield, defended himself, saying: "It's not panicking — it's just sensible. I can't afford to be without."

In Wirral, Merseyside, traffic control measures were activated to direct waiting cars at the BP garage next to the Cammell Laird plant.

 

At Man United ace Wayne Rooney's home in Prestbury, Cheshire, wife Coleen declared on Twitter: "Petrol stations are packed by ours. One has already ran out."

 

One frustrated driver said every single garage on her 18-mile journey on the A565 from Southport to Kirkdale, Liverpool had "insane queues."

 

In Llandudno, North Wales the Black Cat Shell closed with a sign reading: "No fuel sorry".

Similar notices went up in Blackpool and Birmingham.

 

Queues at a Sainsbury's garage and a Shell in Christchurch, Dorset, forced police to close them because the tailbacks were a danger.

 

Around 2,000 tanker drivers who deliver to 90 per cent of forecourts are demanding a deal on pay, hours, holidays and redundancies. Yesterday their union Unite met in London to decide whether to accept an offer of mediation from industrial peacemakers Acas.

 

Amid the pumps frenzy, Mr Maude was slammed as "incredibly irresponsible" by Shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie. Brian Madderson, of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, said: "This Government appears intent on creating a crisis."

 

AA president Edmund King insisted: "There is enough fuel out there — as long as people do not fill up unnecessarily."

 

 

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4226279/Head-for-the-fills.html

Conservative Francis Maude was supposed to clam people's fears over a possible strike by fuel tanker drivers. Instead, he made things worse by suggesting people should even hoard petrol / diesel in Jerry cans.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYqxBmtOkvM]Francis Maude, don't panic on possible fuel strike but..... (28Mar12) - YouTube[/ame]

Oh lordy loo.

 

Someone stuffed up big time...

Full tank here :D

 

Although I remember in 2000 I had a full tank back then until some prick decided to crawl under my car in a car park to snick the fuel line and drain all my petrol away :whatever:

Woman seriously burned decanting petrol

 

A woman suffered serious burns when petrol ignited as she was decanting it in the kitchen of her York home because her daughter had run out of fuel.

 

The woman, who is in her 40s, suffered 40% burns in the accident in the Acomb area of the city on Thursday. She has been taken to the burns unit at Pinderfields Hospital. A fire service spokesman said: "Her daughter asked her mum for petrol because she had run out. The cooker was on and the fumes ignited."

 

The woman was treated by ambulance personnel in her kitchen before being taken to Pinderfields. Her condition is not known but a North Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman described the burns as severe. Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire in the kitchen and removed the remaining petrol.

 

A North Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman said: "Members of the public should take extreme care when handling and storing petrol and be aware of the risks associated with incorrect use and storage of fuel. Never bring petrol inside your home. If you do smell petrol fumes in a garage or outbuilding ventilate the area and make sure nobody smokes or turns electrical switches on or off. The slightest spark could cause an explosion."