Panic-buying fuel is 'bad news', petrol station owner tells LBC

25 September 2021, 12:25 | Updated: 25 September 2021, 12:27

'If people stop panic-buying there’s enough fuel to go around for everybody', this service station owner insists.

Muhammed phoned in from Manchester to tell Matt Frei that "as soon as the tanker comes, people are filling up."

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"We’re selling 2, 3 days of petrol in six hours" he revealed. The businessman told Matt that "as soon as BP made that statement" on fuel shortages at some of their forecourts, that was when the chaos unfolded.

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"When someone like BP makes a statement – a silly statement like this…people automatically are going to panic-buy".

He told Matt that "we’re a nation that loves to carry loo rolls" and "we should have learned" from the panic-buying seen early in the pandemic.

Driver's van runs out of fuel in queue for petrol station

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"Do you think there should be a limit on the amount of petrol you can buy at a station?" Matt wondered, but the caller told LBC that he has had a £20 limit in place since Thursday.

"We don’t want to sell a whole tanker in six hours, what are we going to do for the next 18 hours?" He explained, suggesting that limits will keep him in stock for longer.

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"Panic buying is bad news for us as a business" he insisted.

He concluded by telling Matt that there have been instances of customers coming to blows over fuel in one of his service stations.