Fuel shortage: Here's a round-up of what the petrol station situation is like across Northampton today

Here's a round-up of what the petrol station situation is like across Northampton today (Thursday) as the fuel shortage fears saga continues.

The fuel issues started on Thursday (September 23) when BP announced that a 'handful' of its stations would be closed due to driver shortages meaning fuel could not be delivered.

This caused fear across the country which led to drivers panic buying fuel, in turn causing many garages to run out.

The effects have been seen across Northampton over the last seven days with many petrol stations running out of fuel, dealing with large queues, and setting price caps on spending.

The scenes are improving in the town but it is still not back to normality.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said today (Thursday) there are signs of 'stabilisation'.

He said: "A lot of petrol is now being transferred into people's cars and there are now the first very tentative signs of stabilisation in the forecourt storage which won't be reflected in the queues as yet, but it's the first time we've seen more petrol in the petrol stations itself.

"The sooner we can all return to our normal buying habits, the sooner the situation will return to normal.

"We all need to play our part and certainly don't do things like bring water bottles to petrol stations - it is dangerous and extremely unhelpful."

The situation across Northampton

The Shell garage on the A4500 in Kislingbury reportedly had a refill today at around 2pm.

When the Chron went past Shell at around 3pm, the station was packed with motorists.

Further up the A4500, Sainsbury's in Weedon Road only had petrol at around 3pm, with signs up saying 'no diesel'. There is no cap on spending at the garage.

Tesco Extra in Mereway had about 30 vehicles on its forecourt at around 3.15pm, but it was the only station which looked back to pre-shortage levels, although it was still busy.

At the JET garage in London Road, Far Cotton, there are signs outside saying 'no diesel'. There were no queues here. This was at around 3.20pm.

At Westbridge Garage, in St James' Road, at 3.40pm, around half the pumps were coned off due to having no fuel, but it is believed there is both diesel and petrol available.

At BP in Upton Way there is NO fuel at all. A station employee was unsure as to when the next delivery was coming. This was at around 3.50pm.

At Morrisons, in Victoria Promenade, there were queues going out of the supermarket entrance at around 3.30pm. It was closed at around 9am this morning so it is believed there was a refill in the late morning/early afternoon.

Tesco Extra in Weston Favell has run out of fuel at around 4pm, Weston Favell Shopping Centre confirmed. The garage is now turning motorists away.

The government has urged people not to panic buy fuel.