Petrol protests bring Fife to a standstill in 2000

Protests and blockades of oil facilities because of the rising cost of petrol and diesel fuel prices for road vehicle saw motorists, commuters and local businesses left high and dry as the last drops of four star ebbed away.

Supplies of diesel and unleaded vanished early on Tuesday, September 12 as desperate drivers formed massive queues in filling stations across the Kingdom.

On the Wednesday, petrol completely ran out at Asda’s station and Sainsbury was left with just limited amounts of four star.

Speaking to The Fife Free Press, Steven Thomson at Chapel Level Esso, said cars had been queueing on both sides of the road and people were filling their tanks as well as containers.

”They have even been filling up unleaded cars with four star,” he said, “even if we asked them to fill up just £5 or £10 there was no real way to stop them.”

It was a similar story at the Q8 garage on St Clair Street which had run out of every type of fuel except four star on Tuesday afternoon.

Manager Paul McGowan said that account customers were being considered a priority.

Elsewhere in Kirkcaldy, Esso’s Wemyssfield service station had run dry of all but four star after motorists staged a marathon petrol-filling session early on the Tuesday morning.

On the same day cars waiting to fuel up at Bridgeton Filling Station on Bridge Street caused a tailback up Pratt Street.

Texaco on St Clair Street had been designated as a priority station which will be the first to receive any delivery, but a spokesman told the FFP he did not know when it would arrive.

Public transport services also felt the pinch as buses and taxis ran low on fuel.

As Stagecoach Fife introduced a severe cut in services to cope with the fuel shortages, Operations director Doug Fleming said the situation was being monitored very closely, adding: “We cannot operate the services without fuel.”

Brian McGurn, chairman of the Kirkcaldy and District Taxi Owners Association, warned that taxis would be off the roads before the week was out.

The town’s two haulage firms also said they would be struggling to meet deliveries.

Andrew Wishart & Sons and Mitchelston-based United Freight Distribution both told the Press that the tanks were running dry and they were struggling to find any more sources.

And UFD said that some of its drivers down south were struggling to make it home as they could not find fuel anywhere in the country.

Garage owners cashing in on the crisis by pumping up the prices were roundly condemned by drivers and fellow operators.

The cost of a litre of petrol rose to around £1 at two local outlets during the bid to fill tanks, with one owner saying admitting he was looking to make cash.

“If people are going to pay for it there is no reason why I shouldn’t put the price up,” he said.