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Tanker drivers & Downing st
A planned four day strike by 500 oil tanker drivers has been attacked by Downing Street as the Government urged motorists not to panic buy fuel amid fears of petrol shortages.
Members of the Unite union employed by two firms working on Shell contracts are due to walk out from 6am on Friday until 6am the following Tuesday in a pay dispute which could hit one in 10 filling stations across the UK.
Talks aimed at resolving the row are due to be held at a secret location under the chairmanship of the conciliation service Acas, but time is running out to break the deadlocked row.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said contingency plans were in hand to minimise disruption using new measures put in place last week. He told reporters: "We believe that this strike is unnecessary and we would want to ensure that nothing was done that inconvenienced the public. But the most responsible thing the public can do is to continue to buy as normal."
Bernie Holloway, spokesman for Hoyer, the biggest of the two transport companies involved in the dispute, said it was "disappointing" that Unite had rejected an improved pay offer last week. "We believe this was a very good offer that would take the average drivers' pay up to around £39,000," he said.
The company said its improved offer, made during a meeting last week, was worth 6.8%.
Unite repeated its call for Shell to get involved in the dispute and stop "sitting on its hands".
A spokesman for the Business Department said it was "inevitable" that some petrol stations would run out of fuel if the industrial action went ahead. "If the strike were to affect other retailers it would have a more significant impact," he added.
Downing Street said contingency measures included allowing suppliers to share information about stocks without falling foul of competition laws. "The Government is working with the wider fuel industry on what could be done to reduce any disruption to the public and business," the PM's spokesman said.
Unite assistant general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Only Shell sets the terms of this contract and only it can solve this dispute. This is one of the most profitable companies on Earth and it now needs to provide the financial flexibility to avert this dispute. It is no use Shell bosses, who have themselves enjoyed 15%-plus pay increases in the last year, sitting on their hands."