Panic buying at the pumps hit the district today with drivers desperate to fill up as stations ran dry.

A blockade of oil refineries across the country was felt across the whole of the district as a number of stations - particularly Esso and Shell garages - had to close because their fuel supplies had run out.

And even the emergency services said they too could face shortages and be forced into rationing if the situation didn't improve.

Stations around Bradford began to run dry over the weekend as panicking motorists soaked up all grades of fuel without fresh supplies and in some areas fights broke out between battling drivers.

Drivers were filling any container they could grab and others taking up to four times their normal amount of fuel as prices reached 87.9p in some areas, a jump of 10p in just over a week.

The scare was sparked by hauliers picketing refineries around the country in protest at the high price of fuel - particularly the Government's tax levy.

Among the first stations forced to close was the Shell garage at Nab Wood which had signs up early yesterday afternoon telling customers it had no fuel left and shortly after another one in Saltaire ran out of diesel, with the unleaded and leaded pumps going later on.

A spokesman for Shell said the company had only expected stations in the very west of Yorkshire, if any, to be affected by the blockade of the Stanlow refinery in Cheshire.

He said: "The stations in Nab Wood and Saltaire are the first of ours in West Yorkshire that I have heard have been affected by the blockade.

"About 90 to 100 of our service stations have run out of one grade of fuel or will do and if this situation continues, this number will obviously increase."

He said most of Shell's other stations in the region were supplied by refineries in the north east.

Imran Ahmed, sales cashier at the Shell station in Bingley Road, Saltaire, said the number of vehicles on the forecourt at any one time had trebled yesterday compared to normal trade.

He said: "It's been really busy. Normally we have about ten vehicles on the forecourt but today it's been around 30.

"A lot of them are saying they're scared the fuel will run out soon and are filling up just in case.

"The diesel ran out at about 3.50pm on Sunday and the other ones followed soon after."

A spokesman for Morrison's Five Lane Ends petrol station, Idle, said: "We have completely run out of unleaded and diesel. All we've got left is a little four star.

"People started coming in on Saturday and filling up, coming with cans and everything they could to fill up. At about 8pm we had to shut the pumps because we had nothing left.

"There were still people coming in saying they really needed fuel but there's nothing we can do if we've got nothing left to sell.

"People are still driving in now and then driving off when they see we've run out.

"We're expecting more deliveries tomorrow (TUES) or Wednesday but we're not really sure yet. It's ridiculous."

Staff at Bradford's new Rooley Lane Asda petrol station, said: "We've got no unleaded left. We're waiting for the tanker to come today - if it comes.

"We've had a very busy weekend. Sunday is usually a really quite day but yesterday it was frantic. Everybody was in a mad rush to fill up before we ran out. It's panic buying.

"It wasn't just the number of people coming in, it was also the amount of petrol people were putting in their cars. Instead of £10 they normally put in they were putting £30 or £40 in."

Carol Thompson, a cashier at Westfield Garage, in Whitehall Road, Wyke, said: "We've sold out of unleaded and the diesel is getting very low as well.

"We ran out of unleaded yesterday (SUN) at about 2pm. It was chaotic - people were just panic buying.

"We were supposed to have a delivery yesterday but we got the phone call from Ingham, where we get the petrol from, saying that the tanker was blockaded in.

"This is a very busy site with people going past on their way to Leeds. People may have filled up now but how long will that last? When they run out midweek it's going to go from bad to worse."

Keighley town centre was 'fuel dry' this morning. Cars were queuing outside Damside, the only filling station operating in the centre where the attendant expected petrol to run out mid morning at the latest.

He said: "It was horrendous yesterday - we must have done eight times the normal business."

The Jet station in Halifax Road ran out yesterday morning and an attendant said some motorists had even had a fight.

At the Jet Rankin filling station in Keighley Road, Bingley, fuel supplies ran out at midnight last night. Sales assistant Robert Tiffany said: "It was a bit busy on Saturday but it was just stupid all afternoon on Sunday. People were queueing to get in and although some were angry that there was no fuel there is a lot of support for the action.

"A lot of people are brassed off by it all but are glad that someone is finally taking action and acutally doing something about it."

A sales assistant at Wharfeside Service Station, Leeds Road, Ilkley, said: "It's been absolute chaos. We ran out of our last bit of diesel this morning and we have no idea when we will get any more. Everyone around us has ran out as well."

A spokeswoman from the Shell UK petrol station in Brighouse said they had sold out of unleaded petrol and a tanker scheduled to deliver today had been cancelled.

"We've no unleaded petrol and will be running out of Super by the end of the day," she said. "We only have LRP and Diesel left and don't know when we'll get our next delivery. It has been very busy today."

A spokesman from Shell UK in Mirfield said they still had unleaded fuel for sale but had sold out of diesel. Their next delivery would not be until tomorrow evening. "But we don't know whether this will arrive or not," he said.

Hauliers and farmers escalated their picketing of fuel depots and refineries, virtually halting deliveries in many parts of the country.

The north of England and North Wales were the worst-hit areas, with disruption to service at the Stanlow refinery.

Roy Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers' Association said: "It is not critical by any means but it is getting worse. If these actions continue into the early part of next week there will be severe difficulties."

But the day was not all gloom. Hussain Shah, manager of the Save Service Station in Commercial Road, Shipley, said: "It has been really busy because all the other stations have been running out of fuel.

"But we have enough and are due to get another delivery of fuel today which should see us through for most of the week."