THE petrol protests proved to be incredibly quiet compared to the panic buying that preceded them.

There was no 'go-slow' protest on the M62 and police have blamed media hype for the hysteria that gripped Warrington and the rest of the country.

When officers turned up at Stanlow Refinery, which supplies Warrington, they found 48 journalists and only two protestors, who turned tail when they saw the media.

The police did have to deal with about 60 incidents at petrol stations in Cheshire.

The strangest problem was people not letting tankers on to the forecourts for fear of losing their place.

Cheshire police spokesman Brenda Cowling said: "The amount of media hype led people to behave in a way that wasn't logical because all of the people who knew about fuel were saying supplies were flowing and would continue to flow."

She added: "It was quiet on the first morning but it was when local radio first started running the story that queues started developing.

"The police had to take the threat of protests seriously partly because a lot of business near Stanlow are 'Comah' sites - chemical or industrial sites at risk of a major accident.

"The emergency services need to be able to get down there."