The Police Superintendents' Association said officers would have no choice but to make sure that tankers were able to leave depots and deliver their fuel if oil companies decided to send them out. In Downing Street the government's civil contingencies committee was monitoring movements. The monumental scale of the crisis yesterday hit the transport system, the health service, food supplies, schools and businesses. A dramatic day started with the Prime Minister abandoning a visit to Yorkshire and rushing back to Downing Street to take personal charge of a round of crisis meetings. Despite further panic buying and continuing public support for the protests, Mr Blair gave an early evening press conference vowing that he would not buckle.
Legitimate protest is one thing.
I will simply not allow that to happen. In a frantic attempt to prevent Britain descending into total chaos, Mr Blair spent the afternoon on the phone urging the chairmen and chief executives of the five big oil companies to force their tanker drivers to recommence supplies. There has been suspicion in the government for some time that the oil companies have been sitting on their hands, either because they would like to see fuel duty cut or because their employees are sympathetic towards the road hauliers. Ministers acknowledge that they have been urging greater coordination between the oil companies and the police for 48 hours, with little sign that the drivers are willing to break the blockades and restore the deliveries of non-essential supplies. The oil companies are agreed that they must move supplies.