Fuel Sales Soar As Motorists Stock Up
By Jo Deeks on Thursday, 15th September 2005.
Motorists at Haverhill were out stocking up with fuel earlier this week ahead of the protests over rising petrol prices.
North Street Garages had run out of petrol by Monday night, with owner Roger Westrope blaming panic buying by customers, with queues of up to 17 cars waiting. The garage was selling fuel again by yesterday morning and queues had disappeared.
Apart from at North Street Garages, motorists appeared to find plenty of petrol to go around and no other bug queues, but all filling stations had been very busy.
At the Duddery Hill BP Garage, a spokesman said they were selling more than £1,000 worth of petrol an hour on Monday as people started to panic buy.
"People are panicking. We have not had queues so much, but people are coming in who I have never seen before and filling their cars right up. It has been as busy in here as it has ever been. We have a tanker booked for tomorrow, but whether it turns up or not, I cannot tell you. We are fine at the moment for petrol, but we will have to see what happens in future." the spokesman said.
At the Murphy Garage in Sturmer Road, manager Ben Faithfull said there was plenty of petrol and no panic buying so far. "It has been busy and people have been filling up instead of putting in £10 or £20. There is no shortage at the moment, but if I don't get any supplies for a few days and people keep filling up there could be," Mr Faithfull said.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's said the company had seen heightened demand for petrol but not panic buying. "We do not forsee any long term issues with supply and do not have any immediate problems with supply"
North Street Garages had run out of petrol by Monday night, with owner Roger Westrope blaming panic buying by customers, with queues of up to 17 cars waiting. The garage was selling fuel again by yesterday morning and queues had disappeared.
Apart from at North Street Garages, motorists appeared to find plenty of petrol to go around and no other bug queues, but all filling stations had been very busy.
At the Duddery Hill BP Garage, a spokesman said they were selling more than £1,000 worth of petrol an hour on Monday as people started to panic buy.
"People are panicking. We have not had queues so much, but people are coming in who I have never seen before and filling their cars right up. It has been as busy in here as it has ever been. We have a tanker booked for tomorrow, but whether it turns up or not, I cannot tell you. We are fine at the moment for petrol, but we will have to see what happens in future." the spokesman said.
At the Murphy Garage in Sturmer Road, manager Ben Faithfull said there was plenty of petrol and no panic buying so far. "It has been busy and people have been filling up instead of putting in £10 or £20. There is no shortage at the moment, but if I don't get any supplies for a few days and people keep filling up there could be," Mr Faithfull said.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's said the company had seen heightened demand for petrol but not panic buying. "We do not forsee any long term issues with supply and do not have any immediate problems with supply"
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