Panic Fuel Buying In Wrexham (Wednesday)

This story was published earlier today around 2:30pm under the title “Panic Fuel Buying in Wrexham? Not Really…” , when there was plenty of fuel left in Wrexham, this has now changed, for the latest developments of fuel shortages please check the bottom of the article. This article deals with Wednesday updates – if you are looking for today (Thursday) click here.

A queue at Sainsburys Wrexham - But ASDA and Tesco were clear

With the local and national headlines full of fuel shortages and panic buying reports we thought we would pop around town and see for ourselves what the situation is really like.

We have visiting a few of the main petrol stations used in and around town and this is what we saw (pics to come later!) at 2 – 2.20pm today:

– ASDA had all pumps active, no queues and you could drive in to empty spaces at pumps.

– TESCO normal service apart from two pumps coned off, no queues in sight.

– Sainsburys queuing on the road where you turn right to get into the petrol station with slow progress for people trying to grab a fill up. This was the worst in terms of queues but by no means was it gridlock.

– Shell Mold Road appeared to be out of diesel, with lots of pumps closed off with yellow handles, which might explain why it was very very quiet!

– Morrisons on Ruthin Rd is the quietest , and does not appear to have any shortages perhaps people have forgotton it has a petrol station!?

We would guess that the Shell on Mold Rd and Sainsburys are the two closest to the a483 so are easy for people to nip off the major route and have a fill up.

We spoke to a couple of people, both who said they were ‘topping up just incase’. Asking them why they felt the need to they said it was due to what they had either read or seen on the TV. It does seem to become a self fulfilling rumour as people will fill up more if they think there is an issue.

UPDATED 5:50pm:

We have had a few tweets as people are heading to petrol stations after work, and it seems the hype on panic buying at a local and national level is kicking in! @sharpmicroqueen reports that the garage on Holt Rd has run out of petrol and @pryce26 told us that ASDA has now become very very busy – and sent us the below pic – reports that fuel at Tesco/Asda is running low, but has not been limited as people have been filling £50-£60 a go rather than rationing.

Picture of ASDA from 5:50pm sent to us from Richard Pryce

UPDATE 6pm : Live update from Sainsburys, traffic fine around plas coch, but the petrol station forecourt is busy and they’ve run out if diesel on pumps 1 to 10. The report that Holt Rd has ‘run out’ has been amended to ‘running out’ !

UPDATE 6.25pm: Tesco is now queued back around the swimming baths roundabout for fuel.

UPDATE 6:45pm: Sainsburys took around about 20-30mins to get to a pump, there are similar queues around Asda and Tesco now. There is also a report that Asda in Wrexham is now out of petrol on certain pumps.

UPDATE 7pm: Sainsburys out of diesel on 10 pumps now, Asda out of petrol on all but two pumps. Roads to Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys busy.

Update 8:25pm: We have taken another trip around town and have a series of photos below plus these updates:
Traffic is queuing from the B&Q roundabout to sainsburys, and a queue at Shell Mold Rd. @simongpix reports BP in Chester Post House Roundabout is clear. Asda has no unleaded left, and is low on diesel – and looks shut. Tesco is also out of diesel. Morrisons was busy but the best of a bad bunch. There is a report of ‘sizeable queues’ at petrol stations in Mold as well. Hightown garage has massive queues.

What is odd is that there was no panic earlier today, however after work there has been as people come home and fill up. Local and national media have fueled a panic, with stories over the last 24hrs of ‘panic buying’ when there was none. It reminds us of the riots and the ‘wrexham riots’ nonsense as well, you can see how we covered that here. We urge people to check as many sources of news as possible!

Update 9:55pm: Another quick update Caergwrle petrol station has no diesel an low on unleaded (thanks to Hannah Williams). Bethan Forrester told us she went to Morrisons around 9pm , saw no queues and said they still had lots of fuel!

Update 11pm: One of our followers has reported that after a trip around Wrexham there was no diesel to be found – including at Morrisons.

Keep us updated with what you see in or around town anytime 24/7 by emailing [email protected] , tweeting @wrexham , leaving a comment below or using the forum on here.

 This article deals with Wednesday updates – if you are looking for today (Thursday) click here.

ASDA Unleaded Stopped Flowing

A queue at around 8pm into Tesco

A tad blurry but you can make out the traffic nightmare at the Tesco roundabout!

The queue at Morrisons around 8.15pm

 This article deals with Wednesday updates – if you are looking for today (Thursday) click here.

Let us know in the comments below, or via our @wrexham twitter account if you see any problems, or perhaps more usefully, where there is fuel and no queues!