Relief as tanker arrives at Norfolk garage where pumps ran dry
Andrew and John Collins, whose filling station in north Norfolk has run out of fuel - Credit: Chris Bishop
A garage where the pumps ran dry during the fuel shortage has full tanks again.
Protestors blockading the wholesaler which supplies its fuel in Essex had stopped tanker deliveries from the plant. Some had dug a tunnel under an access road.
But the Just Stop Oil demonstrators were removed by police on Tuesday afternoon.
And first thing on Wednesday morning, the first tanker of unleaded and diesel rolled onto the forecourt at Parkside.
John Collins, who has run the business for 50 years, said: "Now we're back to having queues again. The customers are totally amazed we've managed to get some."
Mr Collins said the garage had served hundred relieved drivers and got through more than 10,000 litres of petrol and diesel by lunchtime.
He added: "We've had to put another order in because at this rate we'll need more for Easter."
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Mr Collins, who runs the garage with his son Andrew and other family members, said they had considered limiting customers to £20 or £30 of fuel.
"People are behaving themselves, most have been sensible," he said. "We had a guy bring a can out of his boot so we put a stop to him."
Forecourts have found themselves in the front line after steep rises in fuel prices were followed by shortages.
Environmental activists blockaded fuel depots in Essex and Hertfordshire, which supply filling stations across the region, in protest at government plans to ramp up oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
There were fears the coming Easter holiday weekend could have been disrupted if demonstrations continued.
During shortages last autumn, the Collins family say visitors were in tears because they could not buy enough fuel to get home.