Fuel crisis: How can shortages be resolved?

If people stop buying fuel when they don’t need it, there wouldn’t be a shortage – that’s the message ministers have been pressing home amid yet more scenes of queues at some petrol stations, and others running dry altogether.

UK oil giants, including BP, Shell and Esso, have come together to insist there is plenty of fuel at refineries and terminals.

So does that mean panic over, or are there deeper issues behind the current crisis?