Petrol station queues in Crawley: Reports of 'gridlock' at Sainsburys, Northgate and Pound Hill as drivers visit the pumps; Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urges motorists told to 'carry on as normal'

There were queues at the BP garages in Pease Pottage services and in Ashdown Drive and at the Esso garage in Broadfield.

Charlotte Clare posted on our Facebook page: "Sainsburys petrol grid lock, Northgate petrol Station grid lock, petrol station by the garden center just past Pound Hill grid lock."

BP and Tesco have closed some petrol stations because they cannot get petrol or diesel supplies to all their forecourts due to a lack of HGV drivers.

BP said on Thursday that up to 100 of its forecourts - not in Crawley - were short of at least one grade of fuel, with several forced to close entirely because of a lack of deliveries.

Esso said a handful of its petrol stations operated alongside Tesco Express stores were affected, while some of the supermarket chain’s own-branded sites were also suffering outages.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News the government will "do whatever it takes" to alleviate shortages and urged drivers to 'carry on as normal' when buying fuel.

Have you been out to buy petrol this morning? What was your experience like? Email us at crawleyobserver.co.uk