Evesham has this week been hit by panic buying amid a reported national fuel shortage.

Long queues, closures and restrictions on spending have resulted from people rushing out to buy fuel.

BP announced last week that a small number of its garages were closing due to a lorry driver shortage, making it difficult to get fuel deliveries.

This led to panic buying up and down the country, causing many more stations to run out of fuel.

Residents in Evesham have had to travel outside of the town to find fuel and have used social media to keep everyone in the community updated on the situation.

The BP garage in Pershore imposed a £20 limit in order to control panic buying however this was not enough, and on Monday September 27 the station Three Springs Road ran out.

A staff member said: “We restricted it to £20 on Sunday but by Monday we had ran out, so this is the third day now with no fuel.”

Asked on Wednesday September 29 whether the garage was expecting a new delivery he replied: “Nope, I’ve had no update.

“I keep ringing them up but they’ve given me no answer.”

On Tuesday the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that whilst the situation was “stabilising”, preparations were being made to deal with potential problems until “Christmas and beyond”.

The army has now been called upon to help ease the strain with a decision to put 150 military drivers on standby being formally approved, meaning they can begin the appropriate training if they are required.

At midday on Wednesday Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tweeted to say that the Government’s reserve tanker fleet, being driven by civilians, will be “on the road” to boost deliveries to petrol station forecourts by the afternoon.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has voiced his frustration at how the government have handled the situation.

At the Labour Conference on Wednesday, he said: “Level up? You can’t even fill up.

“Doesn’t that just tell you everything about this Government? Ignoring the problem, blaming someone else, then coming up with a half-baked solution.

“Why do we suddenly have a shortage of HGV drivers? Why is there no plan in place?”