UK: Gasoline

A major fuel crisis will send petrol and diesel prices soaring this weekend.

Industrial action has led to the closure of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, which produces 10 per cent of the country’s fuel.

Knock-on effects will mean the shutdown of a pipeline that brings a third of Britain’s North Sea oil ashore.

The crisis is being deepened by clear signs that motorists are panic-buying, despite pleas for calm from Gordon Brown.