More than 100 tanker drivers working for P&O are to vote next week on strike action over new contracts in a move that could lead to the disruption of petrol supplies for BP and other oil groups.
The staff held a mass meeting at the weekend and feelings have been inflamed since by the dismissal of some staff for refusing to sign alternative agreements.
Local leaders of the Transport & General Workers Union organising the ballot predict members will endorse industrial action and warn oil shipments will be hit. Drivers from P&O's Trans European division are angry about the arrangements which they claim could see their remuneration cut by over 10%.
The P&O staff do not deliver fuel direct to the forecourt but they do transport refined oils and additives used in petrol and diesel.
Will Savage, a driver who says he has been sacked for failing to agree to the new employment arrangements, said: "I am not prepared to beg for my job back from a company I no longer trust."
P & O said the business worked to tight margins and was struggling to secure its future.
The ballot, agreed by the union, begins on August 13 and ends on August 30.
