MOTORISTS were left fuming yesterday after prices rocketed to exorbitant levels at the last petrol stations with fuel.

Unleaded hit 147.9 a litre at the Esso-Spar forecourt in Royal Wootton Bassett, the last garage left open in the town last night.

In Swindon, the price soared to 146.9 per litre for unleaded at Texaco on Fleming Way. The Asda petrol station in West Swindon was the cheapest at 137.7, but the forecourt was closed shortly after 5pm with staff unable to say when the next fuel delivery would be.

Mike Cass, 34, a charity worker, slammed the price rise at the Esso-Spar in Royal Wootton Bassett yesterday.

He said: “It’s a disgrace, the price has gone up all week. I’ve got no choice because people depend on me having a car but I felt like shutting my eyes while I filled up.

“The Government are to blame for all of this. Even if the strike doesn’t happen this isn’t going to go away.”

The Total garage nearby on the High Street was shut for the second day yesterday.

Cashier Debbie Williams said: “There’s been mayhem. it’s been the busiest I have known it in 10 years. Even with the sign up we’ve still had constant phone calls about diesel. We had a load due out but the tanker broke down. When I came in the manager said I could go home but I stayed to clean the shop up.”

Jacqueline Newton, 48, a teaching assistant from west Swindon, was the last customer at Asda’s forecourt yesterday afternoon.

She said: “We’ve got two cars both nearly out of fuel. I’ve been refusing to panic and join the queues. I drove in just as they were putting the bollards out and I thought ‘oh no’, but I made it in. I can’t believe people are being so silly. There should never have been any scaremongering.”

The row between tanker drivers and the Government over pay and health and safety appeared to edge closer to a resolution yesterday.

The Unite union, which represents 2,000 drivers, ruled out the threat of industrial action over Easter and said it wanted peace talks.

Acas, the conciliatory service, will reconvene attempts to broker peace talks on Monday.

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said: “We will not be calling Easter strike action as we focus on substantive talks through Acas.

“We do still retain the right to call strike action for after the Easter, should those talks break down.

“It should be stressed that what we are seeking is reasonable and no more than what is in place elsewhere in the industry.

“There have been minimum standards governing the offshore oil industry since 2000 covering health and safety, training, and terms and conditions.

“This is not a political dispute. It is an industrial dispute and the Government’s recent rhetoric will not help us achieve a negotiated settlement. They must set aside their political objectives and work with us, the employers, retailers and oil companies to achieve an outcome that is good for the industry and the country.”

But petrol stations in Swindon faced waits of up to two days for deliveries after the network of depots became overwhelmed by demand.

Norendran Thuraisamy, a forecourt worker at Harvest in Old Town, said the garage faced being shut for the weekend.

He added: “There are extra tankers but there are too many for the depots and they are becoming jammed. We don’t get a delivery until Monday, so it looks like we will be shut for the weekend unless the manager can arrange something sooner.”

A worker at the Texaco on Fleming Way said no delivery was expected until Sunday.

Tesco in Ocotal Way and Sainsbury’s in Bridgemead were open but were using stewards to marshall long queues.

Esso in Kingshill had already been shut for two days by last night.