A FAMILY-RUN garage in Okehampton has set a limit on the amount of fuel per customer amid widespread panic buying at garages across the borough.

The move at I.G. MacCullock and Sons in East Street, came after the garage finally had a fuel delivery on Monday, after running out of both diesel and petrol within minutes of each other last Friday.

Proprietor James MacCullock said the decision to ration fuel had been made ‘to help keep as many of our customers on the road as we can’.

‘On Friday morning, after it had been on the news on Thursday, it just went mental and everything was gone by lunchtime,’ he said. ‘Both petrol and diesel ran out within five minutes of each other. We finally got a delivery on Monday and we decided to put a 30-litre limit on customers just to have a chance of supplying our regulars.’

Like other filling stations, he witnessed motorists going into panic mode after hearing on the news of the shortage of lorry drivers to transport fuel from depots to garages. The resultant panic buying led to queues and fuel running out before deliveries could catch up. Other garages nearby did not escape, with Whitehouse Services reportedly running out of diesel on Monday.