Talks on fuel dispute 'helpful'

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Leaders of the Unite union and managers from two haulage companies which deliver petrol and diesel to Shell garages met for more than three hours at a secret location in a bid to break the deadlock dispute.

A joint statement from Unite and the two firms, Hoyer and Suckling, said of the talks: "The meeting was helpful and both sides have agreed to adjourn to reflect on today's discussions."

The two sides will meet again on Tuesday shortly after the walk-out by over 600 drivers ends at 6am.

The union has warned there will be another four-day strike from this Friday unless the pay dispute is resolved.

The Government said that fewer garages across the UK had run out of fuel because of the strike.

Research for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said 616 garages had run out of one or more types of fuel compared with 647 on Sunday.

A department spokeswoman said more sites had restocked since the weekend so fewer had no fuel for sale. The number of garages running out of fuel was estimated to be 7% of the 8,900 sites across the UK.

Despite the news, the AA said its patrol staff had reported widespread shortages and queuing at the pumps in Wales and South West England.

Long queues formed on the M5 near Exeter as cars waited to fill up, while at the Texaco station in Barry, south Wales, there was said to be chaos because of queuing on to main roads.