Francis Maude criticised by Tories, Lib Dems and motoring organisations over his handling of the planned tanker strike
Downing Street and the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude were under fire from Tories, senior Liberal Democrats and motoring organisations amid anger that the government had created panic petrol buying across Britain.
As queues snaked out of petrol stations around Britain, prompting police in one county to ask for the temporary closure of forecourts, recriminations started flying after Maude's warning earlier this week that lives were being placed at risk by the planned strike by fuel tanker drivers, and that motorists should stockpile petrol.
"Totally unnecessary, totally self-inflicted and quite frankly a bit of a mess," said Edmund King, the president of the AA, of the scenes outside petrol stations. "It's no surprise that the top-up advice has led to shortages."
One senior Tory said: "Francis Maude has completely mucked up this week. He is to blame for the gargantuan queues outside petrol stations."
But Maude will claim that his strategy of intensifying pressure on the Unite union, which is threatening to hold a fuel tanker strike by 23 April, will have paid off if industrial action is averted.
There were signs last night that talks between Unite and the employers, under the auspices of the conciliation service Acas, could begin on Monday.
One senior government source said: "Unite is buckling. They really don't like the pressure."
But Maude and the Downing Street press operation were heavily criticised through the day. Lib Dem coalition sources were alarmed when Maude warned on Wednesday that a strike would risk people's lives as he advised motorists to top up their tanks and even store petrol at home in the garage in jerry cans, contrary to health and safety laws.
"It is quite sensible to advise motorists to fill up while the tanker drivers are still operating and there is no strike," one Lib Dem said, as the party accused Maude of attempting to flush out Unite without their agreement.
"But when he said lives were at risk and started talking about jerry cans, it was pretty obvious what his agenda was."
The Lib Dems blamed Maude for creating the panic buying. Dorset police confirmed that five garages were asked to close for a period, because lines of cars were causing congestion in Bournemouth and Weymouth, and there were reports of forecourt closures and petrol shortages across the UK.
The AA calculated that the panic buying, which increased fuel sales by 81%, will hand the treasury £32m extra in excise duty.
Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, said: "We must not turn a drama into a crisis. Drivers need to hold their nerve, and if ministers feel the need to intervene they should be banging the heads of employers and unions together to solve this industrial dispute – not offering contradictory and questionable advice to motorists which only fuels panic."
There were tentative signs on Thursday night that progress is being made to avert a strike, which is now unlikely to take place until Easter Monday at the very earliest.
Unite, which will have to give seven days' notice before calling a strike after winning approval for industrial action in a ballot of the tanker drivers, is expected to finalise a framework that should allow discussions to begin on Monday.
Strike laws mean that if tanker drivers want to disrupt Easter they need to call strikes by 5pm on Friday.
Under the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations Act trade unions must give seven days' notice before taking industrial action.
With the focus on getting talks underway with Acas, a union source said the chances of Easter walkouts were increasingly unlikely.
"The threat of an Easter strike is receding," said the source. It is understood that Unite and the hauliers still have differences over the agenda for the talks, although there is hope that those will be ironed out in time for sit-down talks to begin on Monday.
A spokesman for Acas said: "Acas has been in contact with Unite officials as well as all the contractors involved in the fuel tanker drivers' dispute. We are now in the process of receiving more detailed briefings from the parties on the various issues underpinning the dispute.
"This will enable us to determine more clearly the form substantive talks should take to provide the best opportunity for a negotiated settlement. We should conclude that process by Monday and would then hope substantive discussions would follow shortly afterwards."
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, accused Downing Street of a "crude decision" to play politics. He said: "The prime minister is presiding over a shambles on petrol. The country is paying the price for the incompetent way he is governing. In a delicate situation which demanded statesmanship, the government showed partisanship. They made a crude decision to play politics with petrol without regard for the consequence."