Motorists have been urged not to panic buy fuel as the news of the Coryton fuel refinery closure spreads.
The refinery, which supplies over 20% of the fuel to London and the South East stopped supplies when its Swiss-owned parent company Petroplus went into administration.
News of the closure has already sparked panic buying around the UK, with news coverage of the closure further prompting motorists to “stock up”.
Oil Minister, Charles Hendry said “We don’t want everybody to go out and get it [fuel] tonight, because that clearly wouldn’t be helpful. People need to be completely confident that if they go about their business as normal then there is completely enough fuel available and that BP and Shell have been going to great lengths to make sure that is the case.
“There is the capacity in some of the other refineries in the UK. Companies like BP and Shell, who are the main buyers of the output from Coryton, have already made short-term arrangements to make sure that they get the fuel from other sources. We have spare import capacity so we can bring extra fuel in as necessary.”
We are keep to see how this if effecting fourecourt queues in your area, let us know in the comments how your local station is holding up.
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