Queues had formed at several petrol stations in the district tonight, as motorists rushed to fill up following fears of a tanker drivers’ strike.

Some petrol stations were even reported to have run dry as ministers rejected claims from retailers that advice to top up had led to “panic buying”.

Cars were seen queuing on the roadside outside Asda in Rooley Lane, Bradford while in Ilkley, one of the town’s two petrol stations had run out of fuel.

Queues had formed at the second station, on the opposite side of the road, and a motorist was asked to leave the forecourt after he snatched the pump out of the hand of a female driver, an eyewitness said.

There were also reports of motorists queuing out of Morrisons in Skipton, up Broughton Road, while Asda’s petrol station in the town was said to have run out of diesel. Asda’s Keighley petrol station was also said to have run out of fuel.

A spokesman for Bradford-based Morrisons said the retailer was well supplied with fuel and none of its pumps had run dry. He added: “There’s no need for people to buy any more petrol than they normally would.

“We have plenty of stock and are well prepared.”

Motoring organisations laid the blame for the panic buying firmly at the door of the government.

AA president Edmund King said: “There is no fuel tanker strike and therefore if drivers followed normal fuel buying patterns there would be no fuel shortage.”