Protests about high petrol prices failed to materialise last week and as a result, garages in mid Cheshire are now getting back to normal.

Fears about blockades had led drivers to stockpile supplies of fuel with panic buying across the area leading to some garages having to close as a week's supply disappeared in 24 hours.

But as warned, the fears proved to be groundless.

There was an extremely small protest at Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, which provides petrol for the area.

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "Only two protesters turned up and there was a small police presence there.

"We said prior to Wednesday that there had been no specific information to suggest any protest in Cheshire."

He added: "The road layout at the refinery has changed since the last dispute which prevents any vehicle blocking the entrance for public safety reasons."

Although there were no protests and petrol prices have broadly remained the same, Tesco supermarket decided to reduce its prices.

A spokesman said: "Some forecourts were busier than usual as customers responded to media reports and topped up their tanks.

"This put a number of our forecourts under pressure.

"We have no supply problems and regular deliveries were made to our forecourts throughout last week. Any forecourt that needed refuelling was reopened as swiftly as possible.

"We cut the price of all the petrol at our stations - including Northwich - from 6am on Friday, September 16, by up to 4p a litre.

"The oil market is volatile and we work hard to keep prices for our shoppers low. The price of petrol has fallen and we are passing those savings back to shoppers as soon as we can.

"We won't be beaten on price in any location."

Other garages in mid Cheshire have returned to normal.

Matthew Powis, deputy manager of Morrisons in Winsford, said it had been very quiet at the end of last week.

He said: "I think it was so quiet because everyone's tank was full.

"But on Monday and Tuesday it was back to normal.

"There were never any issues with supplies even when we were so busy on Monday and Tuesday last week. We didn't have to close at all."

Dave Kingston, proprietor of Fred Cash Ltd, in Middlewich, said the garage had been busy until the end of last week but it was back to normal on Monday and Tuesday.

He said: "It was ridiculous. The only reason there was a problem was because people were panic buying.

"We did run out of petrol at one point for around three hours but we knew we had a delivery booked and we knew they were turning up."