Petrol stations across Oxfordshire are running out of fuel and many have been forced to close following protests blocking major oil depots.
Signs with ‘no fuel’ have been appearing across the county as some petrol stations have run out of diesel, petrol or have been left with no fuel at all.
A woman who works at Shell petrol station on London Road in Headington said they have no fuel at all but was unable to comment on why.
She added that many concerned drivers have been calling the petrol station to ask if they have fuel available. The Shell petrol station shop remains open.
Balan Nadarajah, manager at Abingdon BP garage explained the petrol station has run out of diesel.
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He said: “We haven’t got any diesel at all; we only have 4,000 litres of unleaded which we will probably run out of today. Hopefully we will have a delivery, but we haven’t had any news from BP yet.”
Mr Nadarajah suspects the shortages at the petrol station are due to the protestors blocking oil depots.
Many petrol station workers are unsure of when their next delivery will arrive.
A store manager, from the BP on Launton Road in Bicester, said: “We don’t know when we’re getting our next lot of fuel. We’ll be out of everything in the next 20 minutes.”
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The fuel shortage comes as activists from Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have been blocking access to oil terminals this week, demanding that the Government stops new oil and gas projects.
These protests have resulted in more than 100 arrests and portests in Thurrock cost the Essex Police more than £1 million and put it under “real strain” according to Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet.
Concerned drivers have taken to social media, one post on community Facebook page Kennington Connected on Friday evening asked why all the petrol stations in Abingdon and Oxford were closed.
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Driver Frankie Holland wrote on the Facebook page: “It is having an awful impact on everyone, we nearly didn’t make it home tonight as we were driving around trying to find petrol, my lad was anxious. It is not going to help their cause; they are just going to be hated.”
It is uncertain how much longer the protests will go on, but the environmental groups say their ‘civil resistance’ will continue until the government agrees to stop any new oil and gas projects.
A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said: “All fuel supply points are fully operational and we are working closely with industry to ensure that supplies are maintained. The public should continue to purchase fuel as normal.”
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