THE petrol crisis led to a "freak" week at women's clothing group Oasis, when sales plummeted, the group said.

The retailer said since July - the end of the first half of its financial year - like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new store openings, had fallen by four per cent.

A large part of this fall was down to the petrol crisis, which had deterred shoppers from visiting stores, resulting in one "completely freak week", said the company.

The crisis came at the end of a tough six months for Oasis, which showed a fall in profits before tax to £2.9m, against £5m at the same point last year.

The company warned: "The challenging high street trading conditions we experienced in the first half remain with us and it is unlikely that the company's profits in the second half of the year will significantly exceed those achieved in the same period last year."

Chief executive Derek Lovelock said in the week when the fuel crisis was at its height, like-for-like sales were around 20 per cent lower.

"People simply could not get to the stores, or chose not to," he said.

"We were performing OK up to the beginning of September. All that we are saying is that it has taken a little time for trade to get back in its pattern. Trading did not bounce back immediately."

Prior to the fuel crisis, for the half-year to the end of July, Oasis saw like-for-like sales fall by two per cent