A growing number of petrol stations in Spain are running out of fuel, because of an indefinite strike by lorry drivers protesting over diesel prices.

The hauliers blocked several roads around the country on Monday, and by Tuesday worried motorists had cleaned petrol stations out of fuel.

Some food markets have also started running out of produce.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has cancelled engagements to deal with the strikes.

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The union complains that the price of diesel has soared by more than 20% this year, and is calling for the government to enforce a minimum price for haulage, to prevent firms being undercut.

Mr Zapatero has offered truckers emergency credit and early retirement incentives, but refuses to set minimum tariffs, saying they must accept fair competition.

Although the largest hauliers' union has not joined the strike, some non-striking drivers found their passage blocked - and in some cases their windscreens smashed - by those who were.

'Utter chaos'

A queue of up to 10km (6 miles) formed on the French side of the Spanish border, after strikers refused to let foreign lorries enter the country.

"Go-slow" protests by truckers around Madrid and Barcelona caused tailbacks of up to 20km, while lorry drivers carried out a similar protest in the Basque country, Valencia, and in Bordeaux, France.

Spaniards fearing fuel shortages tried to fill their tanks, causing long queues at petrol stations and exhausting supplies.

Supplier groups said 40% of garages in the Catalonia region had run out of fuel, and 15% of those in Madrid.

A BBC News website reader in Gibraltar, Lucie Goss, said the British territory was "utter chaos, with Spanish and local drivers queuing at the fuel stations, panic-buying".

She said a supermarket delivery lorry had been attacked by pickets, and that fresh food was running out.

Queues were reported at supermarkets in Spain and in Portugal, where some lorry drivers have launched their own strike.

"We are the ones who move the goods that this country needs to keep working. If we stop because we haven't got the money to buy fuel then the country will stop," said Julio Villascusa, president of Fenadismer.

The hauliers' action follows the lead of British truckers, and Spanish and French fishermen, many of whom have been on strike because of the soaring price of fuel.

There was almost no movement of lorries on Monday at Mercamadrid, the main wholesale food market in the Spanish capital, the Associated Press news agency reported.

But the government dismissed fears of shortages, saying it would guarantee market supplies.

It says it hopes to have an assistance package ready to offer the sector within days.

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(BBC)

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