THERE were no reports of any significant fuel shortage problems in the Highlands and Islands yesterday.
BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams was unaware of any remote filling stations suffering as a consequence of the strike and offered thanks to considerate people who refused to panic buy.
“We’ve got the odd site that might have run out of diesel or petrol, but we’ve only got one or two sites out of about 100 which have run out completely. Stock levels at sites are looking pretty good. The indications are that there are good levels of supplies at most BP stations.”
On Harbour Road, in Inverness, Bannerman’s filling station yesterday imposed a £20 limit to fuel purchases, but there were no queues.
In remote Sutherland, concern was growing that a record 200-plus entry list for next month’s Cape Wrath Challenge running events could be among leading sports and tourism casualties amid visitors’ fears that their vehicles could be running on empty by the time they reach Durness.
The event is being staged between May 11-17.
Event secretary Ronnie Lansley said: “We are concerned, obviously, because we’ve got a lot of people coming in and staying here for the week that it’s on, but so far nobody has cancelled.”
Fuel prices in Durness, on the north-west coast, have risen by 10p per litre in the past month.
The price at the pumps yesterday was £1.37 per litre for diesel and £1.25 per litre for petrol.