{"id":1153,"date":"2026-03-30T15:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/1153\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T15:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:23:12","slug":"petrol-stations-running-dry-as-panic-buying-hits-uk-supply-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/1153\/","title":{"rendered":"Petrol stations \u2018running dry\u2019 as panic buying hits UK supply chains"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK petrol stations are “quickly running dry,\u201d with panic buying accused of causing fuel shortages. Motoring expert Matt Crole-Rees explained that motorists \u201crushing to buy fuel\u201d was behind the lack of petrol<\/a> and diesel<\/a>, with deliveries unable to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n

He warned pumps were \u201cemptying faster” than usual, meaning supplies were being drained before retailers could fill up. However, it\u2019s causing severe disruption for road users, with some drivers met with \u2018no fuel\u2019 signs when trying to top up their tanks.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Matt said: \u201cPetrol shortages are likely caused by drivers rushing to buy fuel, even if they don\u2019t need it, in the fear that prices will increase even higher, or fuel will run out. When large numbers of drivers rush to fill up at the same time, petrol stations can quickly run dry.<\/p>\n

The motoring expert at Confused.com<\/a> continued: \u201cThat\u2019s because the supply chain is designed for normal demand rather than sudden surges. Many may find pumps can empty faster than they can be restocked when there is news of fuel shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes after major UK supermarket Asda confirmed it was experiencing “temporary shortages”<\/a> at some petrol and diesel pumps. Asda boss Allan Leighton explained that fuel volumes were up quite significantly and stressed that demand had been outstripping supply.<\/p>\n

Last week, motorists arriving at Tesco Superstore in Worcester found a sign informing road users there was \u201cno fuel available\u201d. Meanwhile, traffic management system INRIX reported there was \u201cno fuel available at the lorry pumps\u201d on the M1 Northbound Woodall Services last week.<\/p>\n

They have continued to urge drivers to fill up as normal<\/a> and to adjust their speed and driving style to reduce fuel consumption. Matt Crole-Rees told Express.co.uk that drivers should not panic-buy fuel under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cPanic buying can make the situation worse in the long run. While it may seem a short term solution for drivers to make sure they have enough fuel, panic buying can drain supply chains. And this can have a knock-on effect for other motorists, who may be reliant on fuel to do their jobs. While it may be tempting to fill up in case prices increase, we\u2019d urge motorists to only take what they need, as and when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK petrol stations are “quickly running dry,\u201d with panic buying accused of causing fuel shortages. Motoring expert Matt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[971,974,981,976,972,977,978,970,973,980,975,979,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-1153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-diesel","9":"tag-diesel-fuel","10":"tag-diesel-pumps","11":"tag-fuel-deliveries","12":"tag-fuel-shortages","13":"tag-panic-buy-fuel","14":"tag-panic-buy-petrol","15":"tag-petrol","16":"tag-petrol-fuel","17":"tag-petrol-pumps","18":"tag-petrol-shortages","19":"tag-petrol-station","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}