French filling stations run out of fuel as blockade continues

Some 1,600 petrol stations in France were running on empty on Monday as protesting workers continued to block oil refineries and fuel depots.

Motorists ignored pleas not to panic and formed long queues at service stations to fill up their tanks over the weekend fearing a shortage of fuel. With 1,600 petrol stations out of a total of 12,000 having run out of fuel or running low, the queues of worried drivers are likely to only increase in the coming days.

While France's Transport Minister Alain Vidalies has tried to quell all talk of any fuel shortages he admitted on Monday that 800 petrol stations were out of fuel and 800 were running low. And the French public are feeling the brunt of the militant action.

What the motorists are saying

One reader of The Local fr said: "No fuel available for 50km around me. I can't go to work." Sheelagh Gorham said: "We are restricted to 25 litres maximum here in the Manche (Normandy) with some garages already closed." There were also reports of tempers flaring at petrol stations with staff being attacked. Julie, a resident of Lille in northern France told Europe1 radio: “I looked for petrol all over the weekend. I went to every petrol station, but it just wasn’t possible, there are shortages everywhere,”

“I have to go to work, I have 30 kilometres to go and I have got no more fuel. I will breakdown. It’s a nightmare,” she said. The north-west of the country was initially the hardest hit but the blockades have since spread across the country. On Monday the blockade continued at the Fos-sur-Mer depot on the south coast of France (picture below).

Out of the 2,200 petrol stations run by French oil giant Total, 509 were either completely or partially out of fuel on Monday - 76 in the Paris region, 73 in the Nord-Pas-de Calais, 60 in Brittany and as many in Normandy.