Shell fuel tanker strike called off

A STRIKE that threatened supplies to Shell petrol stations was called off today after a last-minute pay deal. Pickets were already gathering at fuel depots as the deal between tanker drivers and their employer, P&O Trans European, was brokered.

There were fears the planned three-day strike could lead to scenes reminiscent of September 2000, when blockades outside fuel depots triggered petrol shortages across Britain.

But Shell said the picket withdrawal meant there should be no disruption to its deliveries.

'We expect our delivery schedule to be operating as normal by this afternoon,' a spokeswoman said. 'We have plenty of fuel stocks in the system and we don't expect there to be any disruption.'

Shell, which accounts for 10% of the nation's network, was the only company likely to have been affected by the dispute between the drivers' union, the Transport and General Workers' Union, and P&O Trans European.

Drivers had rejected a 4.5% offer from P&O and were demanding an 8% rise.

Talks began at the conciliation service Acas at 2.30am and finished at 7am after the union agreed to 'strongly recommend' that its members approve the revised offer.

The firm was understood to have offered an increased deal over two years, with 4.5% in year one plus an extra 1% backdated to January 1 2002, and 4.5% in year two, also backdated, to January 1 2003.

The offer will be put to the membership and the result of the ballot could be known by Monday or Tuesday.

T&G's lead negotiator Ron Webb said: 'The strike has been withdrawn with immediate effect.'

The depots affected were to have been Buncefield (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire), Shell Haven (Thurrock, Essex), Avonmouth (Bristol), Plymouth, Hythe (Southampton), Haverfordwest, Cardiff, Killinghome and Kingsbury (Midlands), Stanlow (Cheshire), Grangemouth, Aberdeen and Inverness.