PETROL station bosses today warned they were going to run out of fuel by tomorrow morning unless drivers stop panic buying.

Queues were this morning building up outside the few remaining petrol stations in Hyndburn which have any fuel left -- and even they are set to run dry within 24 hours.

Police chiefs and Hyndburn MP Greg Pope today urged people to stop stocking up every day in a bid to prevent a repeat of September's petrol crisis.

But Ian Cox, who runs Church Filling Station, Dill Hall Lane, said: "The Government and the national media are to blame for this.

"They have gone around telling people to stock up on petrol so they can keep moving if another crisis happens. By doing that, they have started a crisis themselves.

"Everywhere is screaming for petrol so deliveries have gone to pot. We don't know when our next one is. We had two tankers in this morning but with the way sales are going, we will be out by tomorrow lunchtime.

"We don't know when out next delivery will follow."

Petrol station manager Naeem Faza added: "We were supposed to have a delivery two days ago but there is a problem with the drivers.

"It's nothing to do with any shortage but we hope we'll have some soon."

Across East Lancashire, drivers faced queues at the few petrol station which have not yet put up the 'sold out' signs.

Most garages have run out of unleaded, with several reporting that they have run dry of all fuels.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, who was left stranded in the borough during September's crisis, today issued a plea for people to stop panic buying. He said: "I don't think there's any need for panic buying although I understand that people will want to keep their tanks topped-up. There will be worries, but they should take reasonable measures and that doesn't mean going to the garage every day. The government is not going to allow what happened in September to happen again. It's a question of who runs the country."

Police Inspector Graham Ashcroft added: "I would ask the public not to panic buy as there are no anticipated problems regarding the supply of petrol."

Drivers, however, were taking no chances.

Many have faced a rush around the area to find a petrol station which still had stock.

Kieran Adams, an office executive from Haslingden, said: "When you see Jack Straw in the paper urging businesses to store fuel and then he goes on telly to announced the plans to combat a petrol blockade, you have to wonder if he knows something we don't.

"Everyone seems determined to win the petrol war and I don't want to caught out again. I need to stay on the road."

A cashier at Blackburn Esso Filling Station, in King Street, this morning had a length of cars queuing at the pumps from as early as 6.30am.

"People are just panic buying for no reason whatsoever," he said. "There is no shortage of petrol but I don't know how long we can last if people panic buy like this. We ran out of petrol yesterday and had to get a new delivery and we could run out today."

Motorists in Chorley struggled to find petrol last night after a rush of panic buying set in during the day.

Nearly all of the petrol stations in the Chorley area reported being out of unleaded fuel by last night.

The petrol station at Asda, in Clayton-le-Woods, closed early after running out of petrol and many more reported no fuel leading to huge queues at Sainsbury's in neighbouring Lostock, which was still open.

A member of staff said: "We actually ran out of unleaded earlier but we have had a delivery since."

And a spokesman for Shell in Clayton-le-Woods said: "It has been mad busy and we have run out of unleaded."

In Burnley there appeared to be few problems in getting petrol although some garages reported a rush in people filling up.

Picture: Cones go up at Montague Service Station, Blackburn, as the petrol pumps run dry