Fuel shortages have hit Yate with three out of the four petrol stations in the area having no unleaded fuel.

Morrison's petrol station in Yate had a sign saying 'Sorry No Unleaded' at 10.30am this morning and reported to only have supplies of Diesel left in four of their eight pumps, which would last around 2 hours.

Their next fuel delivery is expected this evening.

The Esso Garage on Station Road had no Diesel or Unleaded this morning and had locked the shop to customers.

Shell staff on Westerleigh Road were cleverly parking the queueing cars to stop further traffic building on the main road. A member of staff said that at 10.45am, they had supplies of all fuel available in their pumps but they were limited and as soon as they run out- they will also close for today.

The Esso garage next to Tesco has signs saying 'Sorry No UL' however they have some pumps with Unleaded petrol available. Staff said they hadn't had chance to turn the signs around due to the sheer volume of customers coming through the door- at times this morning cars were queued at all four points of the roundabout leading into the garage.

This come as the Transport Secretary has defended his foreign visa plans to solve the HGV driver shortage as he accused a haulage group of sparking petrol station queues.

Grant Shapps said the queues and closures at fuel stations were a “manufactured situation” created by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) leaking comments from BP bosses about supply concerns.

The Government announced a temporary visa scheme that will see 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers brought in on three-month contracts to keep supermarket shelves stocked with turkeys and tackle fuel delivery difficulties.

Mr Shapps admitted he had done something he “didn’t necessarily want to do” in allowing foreign workers to fill the workforce gaps, having only on Friday rallied against the idea of temporary visas, but said the Government wanted to reassure the public amid long queues at the pumps.

Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme, Mr Shapps said: “We need to ensure that people are reassured now that this rather manufactured situation has been created, because there’s enough petrol in the country.”

Nearly one million letters will also be landing on the doormats of people with HGV licences in the coming days enticing them to return to the job now that wages have risen.

The Government is also keen to see better conditions in terms of truck-stop facilities as it bids to shift the workforce demographic from being mostly white, male and in their mid-50s.