Published: Wednesday, 23rd April, 2008 12:00
Queues form over fears of fuel shortage
By Bob Lovik
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Queues stretch out of the filling station as the refinery strike looms.
Pic by: David Robertson
CLACKMANNANSHIRE’S forecourts are filling up this week as fears of a petrol shortage have gripped the county.
The threat of a workers’ strike at Scotland’s largest oil refinery is fuelling those fears that have led some independent petrol stations in Clackmannanshire to go dry.
Worries over a production shutdown at the nearby Grangemouth refinery led to queues of cars 10 deep at local petrol stations on Sunday and Monday.
As customers queued up, talks between trade union officials and plant management began on Tuesday in hopes of averting a strike. As the Advertiser went to press, no agreement had been reached.
A total of 1200 staff have threatened a two-day strike from this Sunday because of a disagreement with management over the company’s pension scheme.
A shutdown, which takes several days to complete, has already begun in anticipation of a strike.
Both sides in the disagreement have accused the other of scare-mongering and members of the Scottish Government have insisted there is no need for the public to panic.
The Retail Motor Industry Federation, which represents fuel retailers, has said that there is at least a 70-day supply of fuel that will meet the demand provided people don’t start to panic buy. But it appears that is already happening.
The Advertiser spoke to motorists on Monday who had joined the queues at the Tesco and Asda petrol stations in Alloa.
Monday afternoon saw queues at each of the Tesco station’s pumps run three to four cars deep.
One motorist in the queue told the Advertiser, “I’m here because they may run short by the end of the week. I think everyone will be a little on edge and the ‘I’d rather be safe than sorry’ attitude will take hold.”
A woman waiting in the same queue added, “I think everything will be all right if everyone acts normal. Listening to the radio though does make it sound like people have panicked.”
The situation at the Asda petrol station wasn’t any better with cars backed up on to the King Street roundabout.
A pensioner who was in the queue told the Advertiser, “I’m disabled so I need petrol because without my car I’m stuck in the house. I’m aware of the possible shortages so that’s why I’m here. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I think the government should step in to keep the plant open.”
Another Asda customer added, “I needed petrol anyway, but even if I didn’t, I probably would have come down today just because the queues are a bit alarming. People are probably overreacting but I suppose I am too if I’m in the queue.”
The Asda, Tesco and Morrisons petrol stations in Alloa had no plans to impose any petrol restrictions on their customers and all said on Tuesday that business would go on as usual.
While the supermarkets have the stocks to deal with any shortages, local stations have been hit harder buy panic buying.
Wayne Morrison, manager of the Menstrie Filling Station, said on Tuesday, “We’re sold out at the moment. Everybody is panic buying and that is creating more chaos. There is no need for people to panic. There shouldn’t be any shortages at least until a strike occurs, which may not even happen.”
The Menstrie station was expecting a delivery yesterday (Wednesday) at the latest.
The Arnold Clark station in Sauchie has also been hit hard by people looking to top up their tanks.
The station has been selling four times the amount of fuel they would on a normal day, and on Tuesday were running out of diesel but were expecting a tanker in to replenish supplies.
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