http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7456458.stm

The station said dwindling stocks had caused the price rise

A Devon petrol station has been charging £1.99 a litre - more than £9 a gallon - as nearly 400 forecourts in the county suffered dwindling supplies.

The Foxhayes station at Exwick, near Exeter, said it had put all petrol and diesel prices up to conserve stocks.

About 380 filling stations have experienced supply problems or closed altogether, business leaders said.

The problems follow a strike by Shell tanker drivers in a dispute over pay.

We're not being mean... the price will go back to normal as soon as we get a delivery Ron James

Chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council Tim Jones said: "It started out in a pretty orderly way. People got out of bed and thought: 'It's just going to be Shell garages' and what did they see? They saw a lot of 'no petrol' signs right across the board.

"It wasn't just the Shell garages, and that started a ripple effect."

Foxhayes station manager Ron James said his price hike was to preserve supplies and said he was "not being mean".

He told BBC News: "It's all been panic buying.

"People have been coming in buying £80 to £100 of fuel instead of £10 and £20.

"It's been chaos and it's still chaos. I've never seen anything like it in 30 years of petrol retailing."

He added: "We cannot get any more supplies, we're not being mean.

"The price will go back to normal as soon as we get a delivery."

Depot picket

In the meantime, drivers who buy petrol from the garage while the prices are high are getting a £24 discount off an MoT.

Petrol supplies in another South West town ran out on Monday.

Some drivers from Liskeard travelled as far as Plymouth, 12 miles (19km) away, for fuel as other petrol stations struggled to maintain supplies.

Picket lines were in place at a fuel depot in Cattedown, Plymouth, until late on Monday afternoon, barring any tankers from taking deliveries. Fuel supplies began to leave the site after picketers left.

Are the strikes impacting on any other countries? I'm learning to drive at the moment but my instructor could only buy 20 litres today so my lessons may be cancelled

My teachers and my father take the GO train or public transit to work because the gas prices are way to high. In Canada I think its 1.35 a litre or something like that.

When I started driving, a little over 10 years ago a price war between local stations had cause regional prices to plummet to between 35¢ and 50¢ a liter. It now stands at near 1.50$ in Quebec City. It has slowly creeped up from a little over a dollar last year. It therefore cannot be attributed to a strike.

One way to dramatically cut down on your fuel costs is to accelerate more evenly and to top out your speed at 90KM/H (55MPH). Of course keeping your car tuned, tires properly inflated and lighten any unnecessary loads in the trunk (boot). All obvious tips, but that get overlooked by youth male drivers (neither of which apply to Ferret).

Good luck learning to drive and I hope your courses can continue normally, or else you'll have to learn city driving in Liberty City.

Thanks

The current UK issue is a strike which has caused most garages to run out of fuel as the tanker drivers won't deliver, our prices are usually just over £1 per litre depending where you go.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7455755.stm

My time is worth more than gasoline. Put the hammer down, people. :D

its still £1.15-8 per litre here in london

Lucky! I think the South West's particularly badly hit because none of the usual tankers are coming into Plymouth.

If it was my garage it would have the decimal point removed.

How's the situation down in Penzance?