ENVIRONMENT Secretary George Eustice today blamed UK drivers for panic-buying fuel at the weekend and causing a shortage at the pumps.

He said the long queues and shortage had been caused by people buying fuel when they do not need it.

The pumps at many services stations across Wiltshire were empty today as thousands of drivers rushed to top up their tanks with diesel or unleaded petrol.

Meanwhile, doctors and home care staff have called for essential workers to be given priority for fuel.

Pumps ran dry and long queues built up on Saturday and Sunday as motorists responded with a panic-buy spree to the HGV delivery driver shortage.

Mr Eustice said there was "plenty of petrol" and urged people to buy it in the way they usually do.

"The only reason we don't have petrol in forecourts is because people are buying petrol when they don't need it," he said.

He said the lack of HGV drivers would have been "entirely manageable" if it were not for the reaction to media coverage about a limited number of forecourt closures.

"Things will calm down. Those who are anxious - many of them will have filled up their cars with petrol now and things will then return to normal."

There are no plans at the moment to bring in the Army to drive tankers, he said, although the option is available if needed.

The government has suspended competition law to allow oil firms to target fuel deliveries at petrol stations following recent panic buying.

Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said the industry had problems with a shortage of HGV drivers but it only became a "critical situation" when a submission by BP to the Cabinet was leaked, sparking widespread coverage and panic buying.

"One of our members yesterday received a tanker at midday and by late afternoon the entire tanker had disappeared into people's cars," he said.

In Bradford on Avon, a worker at the Texaco service station on the Trowbridge Road said they had received a delivery of 20,000 litres and by 9am on Saturday morning it had all gone.

Many motorists went out early in a bid to beat the rush to fuel their vehicles in response to the panic-buying crisis.

In Trowbridge, a queue of cars built up before 7.30am at the Apple petrol station near Asda in Bythesea Road, while at the BP service station on the West Ashton Road queues stretched back to the County Way roundabout.

It was the same in Bradford on Avon, as drivers queued to get into the Texaco service stations on New Road and the Trowbridge Road.

Managers put out ‘no diesel’ signs at some service stations as the pumps ran dry, and motorists were being turned away and forced to seek alternative outlets.

Automobile Association president Edmund King described the supply problems as a “temporary blip” and said that panic buying was driving the petrol crisis and making the situation worse.

He said there was “plenty of fuel at source” but shortages at the pumps were exacerbated by “people going out and filling up when they really don’t need to.

Some of the largest UK operators started to ration fuel with EG Group setting a limit of £30 per customer at nearly 400 stations, while pumps at some BP, Esso, Tesco and Shell sites were closed.

BP said on Friday afternoon that between 50 and 100 stations were affected by the loss of at least one grade of fuel, with around 20 of its 1,200 sites currently closed through loss of delivery supply.

Shell said it was seeing “increased demand” at its petrol stations which, in some cases, resulted in longer queues than normal.

The company said it was adapting its delivery schedules to make sure there are sufficient supplies, while Esso said a few of its sites were affected too.

In an email to customers, Texaco said its fuel supplies are “ample” and it will keep all of its stations adequately stocked, adding there is no need for customers to “fill up more frequently than normal”.

Many of the big supermarket chains were affected, including, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, with some planning to scrap home deliveries.

The crisis has been sparked by the shortage of HGV drivers and the government is now considering lifting its visa restrictions to attract 5,000 foreign workers into the country.