Crisis deepens

A list published on the Department of Trade and Industry website of petrol stations throughout the North West that should have been serving fuel at some point yesterday proved to be wildly inaccurate.

Any local petrol stations that did receive deliveries, such as the Shell Garage on Talbot Road, Blackpool, were restricted to supplying emergency services only, often by a police cordon.

As fuel has now run dry in almost all the regions pumps, the Fylde slips deeper into the petrol crisis.

Blackpool is expected to grind to a halt by the start of next week as public transport and the resort's cabs run dry, while supermarket shelves are bare as panic buyers clear the shops of food.

Buses will continue to run a Sunday timetable for the rest of the week with extra services laid on before 9am for commuters. Although school services are running normally, Liz Esnouf, spokesperson for Blackpool Transport, predicts they will run out of fuel by the end of the weekend. She said: "We have not received a delivery and we do not know when the next one will be." Virtually every tram is out on the promenade and services to Fleetwood have been doubled. "If people can get to the Promenade they will be able to travel North and South without a problem.

"We really do not know what is going to happen next week. If we do not get a delivery the school buses will be in question," she said.

Boss of Blackpool Airport Garry Eastwood said he was monitoring the fuel situation very carefully. He said: "We may run short of fuel over the weekend which will mean flights will be disrupted.

"Although aeroplanes use a different fuel than cars it still comes from the same place. As long as Ellesmere Port stays blockaded then we will eventually run dry."

The town's cabbies all managed to fill up before filling stations ran dry and taxi firms were reported to be running a normal service but it is expected cab services will cease as their tanks run dry.

Chris Dyson, director of J Cabs, said: "At the moment we are doing all right. The cars are working and we are running a full service."

The Post Office has pledged to carry on delivering and collect the post until the fuel runs dry. Graham Moore, press officer for Royal Mail, said: "It obviously causes many problems. Not only do employees struggle to get into work but our delivery vans And lorries are grounded. Eventually we will hit problems and we are operating very much on a day-to-day basis. As long as there is fuel we will endeavour to give our full service to the North West."

Blackpool MP Gordon Marsden defended Labour's policy on fuel taxes saying that the country had the choice of high fuel taxes and good social services or "a rock bottom social service system like that in America."

But Mr Marsden added that he had personally written to the Prime Minister requesting that the Government look again at the fuel tax system -- especially targeting groups such as farmers, travel and tourism businesses and hauliers.

He blamed the oil companies and OPEC for the rise in petrol prices. "People have to realise that they have a choice," he said. "We have some of the lowest business rates and lowest income rates in the world. If people want those then we have to subsidise health and education spending in some way."