A BRACKNELL councillor has criticised panic buyers following the queues for fuel at petrol stations over the weekend.

Councillor Thomas Parker called out people on social media for buying unnecessary amounts of fuel "selfish".

The Liberal Democrat Cllr for Wildridings and Central said the long queues at supermarkets are "silly", urging people to be sensible this week.

He said: "I've seen the long lines myself at the local supermarket petrol stations and it's silly. I'd just urge people to be sensible and only buy fuel this week if they absolutely need it for essential journeys.

READ MORE: Warning to panic buyers filling up jerry cans with petrol in Bracknell

In his original online post, Mr Parker said: "Anyone who does not need fuel but is out there adding to the queues right now is selfish.

"Just how many disasters does this country need to limber through before people start to realise that government policy has been the cause of so much of this."

It comes after petrol stations saw queues piling up on the roads causing delays to bus services and ambulance workers getting to patients.

Many firms have had to issue notices saying they have run out of fuel as drivers struggle to fill their cars amid panic buying of petrol and diesel.

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Companies have said they “expect demand will return to normal in the coming days".

Ministers have issued a fresh appeal to motorists to stop “panic buying” as Boris Johnson drew back from plans to deploy troops to ensure fuel supplies reach forecourts.

George Eustice said: “We are bringing Ministry of Defence (MoD) trainers in to accelerate some of the HGV training to clear a backlog of people who want to carry out those tests, and there’s definitely a role there for the MoD.

“In terms of other things we’ve no plans at the moment to bring in the Army to actually do the driving, but we always have a Civil Contingencies section within the Army on standby – but we’re not jumping to that necessarily at the moment.”

A statement by Shell, ExxonMobile and other industry bodies insisted there was no “national shortage of fuel” and that the pressures on supply were the result of “temporary spikes in customer demand”.

Mr Eustice blamed motorists for filling up when they did not need to, adding: “There isn’t a shortage. There have been some shortages of HGV drivers getting petrol to forecourts but actually that is quite limited.”

However, Cllr Parker said: "It's a shame that we've found ourselves in this situation when the government was warned long in advance of the HGV driver issues and did not act."