Long queues outside Melton petrol stations which still have fuel to sell

The pumps have been dry since Friday at both BP garages, on Leicester Road and Thorpe Road, with only the forecourts at Tesco, on Thorpe Road, and Tesco Express, on Nottingham Road, having supplies still.

Motorists have ignored advice not to panic buy petrol and diesel with garages saying they would have had enough to go round if drivers had filled up only when their tanks were empty.

Long queues formed on both Thorpe Road and Nottingham Road today (Monday) in search of the only available fuel, blocking the carriageway for other drivers using those routes.

Police officers intervened on a number of occasions to allow traffic to get through.

One of the angy motorists this morning was Anthony Mee, who told the Melton Times: “The sad irony is that if people had’ve just carried on as normal then this wouldn’t have happened.

“Hopefully it’ll calm down in a day or two but it really is like the toilet rolls panic buying during the pandemic all over again.”

The BP garage on Thorpe Road said it was expecting a fresh petrol delivery tomorrow lunchtime while BP on Leicester Road could not confirm when it was getting a new supply in.

Melton MP Alicia Kearns is urging residents not to panic buy petrol by unnecessarily filling up their cars and also filling cans for a back-up supply.

She said: “There is plenty of fuel in big tanks at refineries and import terminals.

“Some petrol stations are now limiting purchases to prevent unhelpful consumer behaviour and some are closing because demand is way above normal and far above amounts of petrol that petrol stations had ordered.”