PANIC buying motorists have been draining Crewe and Nantwich of its petrol supplies this week ahead of national protests.

Queues have been growing at the pumps since Monday and as the Guardian went to press some filling stations had already run dry while many more were on their last supplies.

But a spokesman for the UK Petroleum Industry Association said there was no problem with fuel supply and that the shortages were being caused by panic buying.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman at Crewe's Tesco store said they had run out of petrol around mid-morning.

She added: "We are getting deliveries through as normal, but it is just being caused by panic buying.

"The car park is chaos at the moment as people are sitting in their cars waiting for the next delivery."

She added they were expecting a delivery that afternoon, but had been told it was stuck in traffic and would be delayed.

Workers at Shavington Service Station said queues started to get worse on Monday morning.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, he added: "At the moment we have around 2,000 litres left, which is about enough for another two hours.

"At the moment we are not sure when the next delivery will be."

Workers at Crewe's Air Total service station on Victoria Avenue also said they had only 2,000 litres of petrol remaining on Tuesday afternoon and were not expecting another delivery until Friday.

Mark Thompson, of Crewe's Morrison store said that while there had been an increase in demand, their normal daily deliveries had so far been keeping pace.