Derbyshire drivers queue for hours at closed petrol station

Drivers queued for hours outside a petrol station without realising it was closed, police said.

Derbyshire Police said they were called after long queues at the Etwall Fuel Express station caused an obstruction on the A516 on Monday.

Some had been at the garage for three hours despite the forecourt being shut following vandalism, the force added.

An appeal to trace two men in a white van who threatened an officer at the scene is under way.

It comes as the Army has been put on standby after a fourth day of long queues and pump closures across the UK.

The government has urged people to not buy fuel needlessly amid supply issues.

In Facebook post, the force's Mercia Police safer neighbourhood team said: "It soon became clear that the drivers had been queuing at a petrol station for several hours, despite the fact that the garage was not open to the public and was unable to serve fuel following unknown persons who had caused damage to some of the petrol and diesel pumps.

"With regret, officers, who were stood outside in pouring rain directing traffic, were subjected to abuse and a series of inexplicable excuses of why they needed to enter a closed garage that was unable to sell fuel."

One male motorist said he had been driving for more than three hours looking for fuel and was "furious".

"When asked how much fuel he'd used looking for petrol, he finally appeared to grasp the lack of solid ground his argument stood upon," the policing team added.

However, officers praised staff from the Burton Bus Corporation who offered their vehicle to take stranded motorists to work.

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