FUEL supplies at petrol stations across the county are running low as motorists begin to panic buy due to the threat of a blockade by tanker drivers.

Staff at the Tesco filling station in London Road, Larkfield, shut their forecourt temporarily this afternoon but expected a delivery later to make up for the current shortfall.

A spokesman there said that he would be surprised if every station wasn’t eventually affected, and that he expected "serious shortages" if the drivers carried out their threat.

In other parts of Kent, stations are virtually running on empty and there are concerns that expected deliveries will not show up.

The assistant manager of a Shell garage in Faversham said: "We are getting very low on diesel. We are expecting a tanker at midnight. We should have had a delivery yesterday but it didn't turn up.

"If we don't get the delivery we will have to shut down the pumps as they run out."

Staff at the BP garage in Strood have requested a delivery tomorrow but have been given no guaratee that extra supplies will arrive. A service assistant there said: "We are running out of everything.

"We have asked for a delivery tomorrow but more than 180 garages have applied for deliveries tomorrow so whether they turn up or not is a different matter. If they don't we won't be serving anyone."

Shell UK in Ham Hill, Snodland, has run out of unleaded, but still has some Otimax and Disel. It is also hoping for a delivery in tomorrow to save its supplies.

Stations in Forstal Road, Aylesford, and London Road, Ditton, are well stocked but many other garages are struggling to meet the sudden demand.

The Parkfoot Garage Ltd in London Road, West Malling - currently selling unleaded at 98.9p and diesel at 95.9p, which is average for the area - was running short but has two deliveries on the way.

Shell UK in Offham says that it has hhd no direction from head office and is confident it can meet demand. However, this afternoon the station ran out of diesel and is ‘just waiting now’ for more supplies to be delivered.

Several filling stations in the Maidstone area reported long queues, while some customers filled up both cars and spare billy-cans.

Some stations in the county town reported that they were running low, but none had run out this afternoon.

At the Shell garage in Detling Hill, Detling, manager Vanessa Webb said: "It has been absolute chaos. We’ve got lots of people on our forecourt and it has certainly been very busy.

"People are panic buying because they assume that we’re not going to have any tomorrow. We are running a bit low, but we are due a tanker tonight.

"Our prices are quite low at the moment - 92.9p for unleaded and 93.9p for diesel."

A spokeswoman for the Chatham Road Service Station, Chatham Road, Maidstone, said: "We are stacked out at the moment. It's been like that all day. We’ve got plenty of petrol."

At the BP Yeoman’s Garage in Ashford Road, Bearsted, the rush began on Sunday for unleaded priced at 96.9p per litre, with diesel at 99.9p.

Sheila Morrow, cashier said: "It’s been manic. People have been coming in with cans and everything to fill up. It isn’t a good idea, really, to be storing fuel. Today it’s been at least double what we would normally do.

"We’re getting quite low on diesel but we’ve got a delivery tonight. We’re going to be pretty low by the time they get here."

At BP’s Tudor Filling Station in London Road, Allington, where unleaded petrol was being sold for 94.9p per litre and diesel for about £1 - people were queuing out onto the road, with rumours abounding that a three-day blockade by lorry drivers could begin tomorrow.

Jackie Jones, shift manager at BP’s Tonbridge Road Service Station in Maidstone, selling unleaded petrol for 95.9p per litre and diesel for 99.9p, said: "It was busy yesterday and today. People have said they’re doing it because they’ve been told to do it on the news. We’ve just had a delivery so we’re fine."

Alan Major, manager of Bearsted Service Station, Ashford Road, Bearsted, said: "They’re not queuing down the road, but there is an increased demand of about 50 per cent. Everyone’s just hearing what’s being said on the radio."

Raj Siva, manager at Shell Tamarisk in Linton Road, Loose, said: "It’s a nightmare. They are queuing up to the road. We are keeping up with the supply."

Prices there were 94.9p for a litre of unleaded and 96.9p for a litre of diesel.

A spokesman for Kent Police said officers were meeting to discuss what strategy they would take, but urged people to be calm.

He said: "We are reviewing and monitoring the situation. At this stage the situation is normal. We are not aware of any information that suggests any disruption to fuel supplies.

"People should be calm about that and not worry about panic buying."

Meanwhile, Chancellor Gordon Brown is demanding that the £160 billion Opec members have gained from recent price increases go into freeing reserves to bring prices back down.

Mr Brown will tell the TUC conferences tomorrow that it is time the gainers in the Opec "cartel" helped to ease the increasing pressures on the global economy.