UK News 11-09-2000 2000: Year In Review: Britain`s Petrol Stations Drained who: British motorists what: Face petrol shortages as hauliers step up blockades when: Today snippet: "Motorists face desperate petrol shortages today after fuel price protesters stepped up their campaign" says The Express. "Around 100 Shell stations in the North-west had run dry or were due to close last night. Supplies vanished by the hour in other parts of the country as drivers resorted to panic buying." "Protests continued at Shell`s giant refinery at Stanlow, Cheshire, and at Milford Haven in Wales," reports The Guardian`s Charlotte Denny, "and the A1 near Alnwick was targeted by hauliers and farmers with a slow moving convoy blocking lanes." "Picket lines were manned outside 12 key supply sites and dwindling supplies were further hit by panic buying," says The Times. The RAC has already advised motorists to make only essential journeys and use public transport where possible. "Sainsbury`s supermarket reported that a number of their forecourts were seriously affected," says The Independent, "as panic buying pushed up petrol sales by 30 per cent". "Farmers and lorry drivers have simply had enough," says Northumberland farmer Charlie Armstrong in The Independent. "We have seen our costs spiral upwards while the price we get for our produce stays the same or goes down." Meanwhile, a meeting of the Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna this weekend agreed to put an extra 800,000 barrels of oil a day on the market in an attempt to bring down prices, although this is likely to take about a month to filter down to the consumer. [... more]

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