Emergency services say no need to panic over fuel shortages

The region’s emergency services have reassured the public that despite panic at the petrol stations, their operations are not affected.
Long queues for fuel at Shell on Bradford Road, BrighouseLong queues for fuel at Shell on Bradford Road, Brighouse
Long queues for fuel at Shell on Bradford Road, Brighouse

West Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service say they have not been impacted by recent shortages but are monitoring the situation, which has seen chaos on petrol station forecourts and long queues outside.

All three emergency services say they have a contingency plan should issues with petrol supply and demand continue throughout the week.

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It comes as ministers issued a fresh appeal to motorists to stop “panic-buying”.

The Government is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and hopes pressure will ease as motorists move back to routine buying patterns following the surge in demand last week which led to huge queues at the pumps and some filling stations running out.

The region’s Local Resilience Forum said: “We would like to reassure people that our frontline emergency responders, including the police, fire and ambulance services, are not experiencing any issues due to the fuel shortage.

“All services have their own provisions to ensure they are self-sufficient for fuel.

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“The LRF has liaised with all key partners and has confirmed there are no issues. Should any issues arise, our regional Fuel Disruption Plan will be activated, whereby mutual aid is offered where required to ensure business continuity.

“We will continue to communicate with all partners to monitor the situation.

“In the meantime, we would ask members of the public to fuel their cars as normal and only purchase what you need.”

A West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We have business continuity plans in place for situations like this, and we will be monitoring the situation and updating plans if necessary.

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"We’re also in communication with our partners to understand any impact the situation may have on them too.”

John McSorley, strategic commander for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “Currently we have sufficient fuel stocks for our ambulance vehicles.

“We have robust business continuity plans in place to ensure we are able to respond to patients needing our assistance and can invoke additional measures should they be required.

“We know that, like many others, some colleagues have found it difficult to obtain fuel for their own vehicles and we have a staff transport plan that can be activated should the situation escalate further.”