FOR days, the message from the industry has repeatedly been the same -don't panic.

Sitting impatiently in a line of traffic snaking its way from a petrol station entrance, round the corner and on to the main street, it is apparent that the message is not quite hitting home.

At the Tesco supermarket in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, cars are crammed on to the forecourt, bumper to bumper, their owners not prepared to accept that supplies will never run dry.

Motorist John Cartwell, 56, said: "It is all very well people in Government telling us not to panic -they do not have to get up to Sunderland and back every day. Some of us rely on our cars for work."

For Amy Robinson, it is a similar story. She said: "It is absolutely ridiculous to have to wait like this, but people who need their cars just cannot take the risk that there will be petrol left by the end of the week."

Stewards are there to direct motorists to the safest place to wait, but those trying to bypass the garage and head in for their weekly shop are inevitably caught up in the queues. At one point, it is hard to tell whether there are more vehicles in the supermarket car park or the queue for the petrol station.

The scene is repeated throughout the North, barely a single pump free at many garages.

Just down the road from Tesco, the Total garage is packed solid.

Even the Jet garage near the A1, largely blocked from view by trees, has people waiting.

At the Morrisons garage at Morton Park, on the edge of Darlington, there are scenes of bedlam.

A long line of vehicles snakes off the forecourt and on to the road leading to the supermarket.

A hastily scribbled sign - "Diesel only in outside lanes" - has been erected by about 2.30pm and an attendant tries desperately to keep the queue in order.

It is the same across the town. The Shell garage in Woodland Road is jammed, with cars lining up on the busy street. North Road, Yarm Road, Haughton Road, all the same.

Our search for somewhere to fill up in peace and quiet only seemed destined to succeed at the Fina garage, in Grange Road.

Surveying the amounts taken from other pumps - £40, £35, £25 - it is clear that no one is stocking up merely for the short-term.

Sure enough, within minutes, the place is overrun with motorists delighted to have found a relatively empty forecourt and the queue begins to form.

Don't panic? Don't bet on it.

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