The ongoing petrol crisis is showing its first signs of “stabilisation” as forecourts could begin to open in “the coming days”, the Transport Secretary has said.
Grant Shapps has reiterated his desire for drivers to return to their normal buying habits after a weekend of chaos at a number of petrol stations across the country.
The Transport Secretary urged people to stop bringing "water bottles" to petrol stations, as people find new ways to stock up on fuel during the crisis.
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In an interview, Mr Shapps said that there was more petrol in the filling stations but acknowledged it would not have an immediate impact on the queues being seen across the country.
He said: "There are now the first very tentative signs of stabilisation in forecourt storage which won't be reflected in the queues as yet
"But it is the first time that we have seen more petrol actually in the petrol stations.
"As the industry said yesterday, the sooner we can all return to our normal buying habits, the sooner the situation will return to normal.
"We all need to play our part and certainly don't do things like bring water bottles to petrol stations - it's dangerous and extremely unhelpful."
Despite the initial problem being a shortage of HGV drivers, and not a shortage of fuel, mass panic over the weekend caused a number of forecourts to shut as they were ran dry of fuel.
On Sunday ministers suspended competition laws between fuel suppliers, which would normally stop them talking to each other, in order to ensure the timely delivery of
Army drivers have been readied to deliver fuel to petrol stations due to the driver shortage and panic buying.
Military drivers are to get specialised training in preparation for possible deployment, ministers announced on Monday
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “The men and women of our armed forces stand ready to alleviate the transport pressures where they are felt most.
“That is why I have authorised their increased preparedness, so they are ready to respond if needed.”
