Delays to bus services across Leeds being caused by petrol panic buying

First West Yorkshire has reported particular issues in and around Headingley Lane with the longest delay to its services currently around 35 minutes long.

However, there are delays to services across the network it covers in Leeds.

A spokesperson added that they expected the disruption and delays to last all day.

Earlier today, the president of the AA said panic-buying rather than supply chain issues was driving the shortage of fuel at some petrol stations.

Edmund King said the problem should pass in a matter of days if drivers just stick to filling up when they need it, adding "there is plenty of fuel at source".

His words come ahead of an expected announcement by the Government that visa rules for foreign lorry drivers will be relaxed.

"We were in discussions with Government ministers last night and we talked to the major fuel companies, and we can reiterate there is not a problem with supply at the source. Earlier in the week, there were some problems with the supply chain, as we know, due to a shortage of some lorry drivers, but that was only a localised problem."

Mr King said the shortage had been exacerbated by "people going out and filling up when they really don't need to".

He added: "If you think about it, 30 million cars out there, if they've all got half a tank (and) if they all rush out to fill up the rest of the tank and the tank is about 60 litres, that will put a strain on the system. The good news is you can only really fill up once - you've got to use the fuel, so this should be a short-term thing. It's not like the fuel crises in the past when the supplier was hit by strikes."

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