PETROL prices hit a record high as pumps ran dry at many filling stations across Merseyside last night. Shell's Rainhill station in Prescot sold all its unleaded fuel and did not expect to take another delivery until the weekend.

Others, including Shell in Queen's Drive and Sandown Filling Station in Wavertree, are hoping to receive deliveries today.

But some stations took advantage of the panic buying to push up prices.

Yesterday afternoon customers at The Madgi Service Station on Prescot Road, Fairfield, were being charged £1.15.9p per litre for unleaded, though the signs outside the station failed to declare the increase.

The forecourt attendant said: "I am only following instructions from headquarters.

"There have been a lot of complaints so I have been on the phone and the boss has told me to bring the price down again."

Driver Susan Hill, 41, accused the garage of profiteering.

She said: "It's disgusting that they are not even prepared to put the price up on the sign outside.

"People are queuing for more than twenty minutes and when they get to the pumps they are desperate.

"I don't blame the employees, but they have been taking a lot of stick from people who object to paying these high prices.

"It's blatant profiteering. Petrol is an essential and there's no shortage, but these companies are cashing-in on the panic buying and that is making it even worse."

The Fuel Lobby has organised a three-day protest after petrol prices went up by 20% in recent months with many stations charging more than £1 a litre. It follows instability in the Middle East and disruption to the US oil industry caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The protest group has asked drivers to turn up to oil refineries from 6am and plan to hold a motorway go-slow after the government failed to introduce an immediate tax cut to bring prices down.

Organiser Andrew Spence, a lorry driver from County Durham, initially warned every refinery in the UK, which would include Stanlow, would be blockaded.

But last night he said there would merely be peaceful protests and refused to elaborate on the plans.

He said: "We are not going to restrict any passage of fuel whatsoever."

The threat of action though has been enough to cause a huge surge in demand and prompted fuel suppliers to call for calm as they tried to meet the equivalent of a week's demand in just one day.

The UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA), which represents firms such as Shell, BP, Esso and Total, said tankers delivering fuel to the forecourts had been increased by 10%-15%.

It was liaising with police and the Department for Trade and Industry to limit the protest.

Chris Hunt, UKPIA's director-general, said: "We have had a week's-worth of demand in one day.

"I believe folks are still queuing up, but there is absolutely no need to do so.

"There is absolutely no problem with fuel supply. It's merely an issue of getting the tankers to the filling stations."

Cheshire police last night said they had no intelligence that Stanlow would be targeted but have changed the road lay-out to stop protesters turning up.

It was the hub of the 2000 fuel crisis with farmers and hauliers blockading the refinery, sparking panic buying of petrol as well as food basics such as bread and milk as the country ground to a halt.

Sixty trucks carrying 30,000 litres of petrol remained stationary inside as drivers refused to leave the site, fearing their lives may be put at risk because of the highly inflammable liquid they were transporting.

More than 150 protesters formed the human wall at the entrance to the site and the demonstration lasted a week.

It was targeted again in January by Farmers for Action, though to little effect.

A spokesman for the Cheshire force said: "For safety reasons the road layout at Stanlow has been changed, making it hard for people to stage a protest there.

"We have long-term strategies for dealing with protests, including at the refinery."

A spokesman for Shell's Stanlow oil refinery said: "We are working normally and there is no forecast of a shortage of petrol in Merseyside.

"Panic buying is in evidence but it is hard to see why. Queues seem to beget queues."

Merseyside Police chief constable Bernard Hogan-Howe warned drivers to stop panic buying and insisted petrol supplies would still get through.

He said: "We can guarantee that petrol deliveries will get through any blockades if protests go ahead. The only threat to petrol supplies at the moment is the sheer number of motorists panic buying.

"It's absolutely unnecessary. By the public dashing out to fill up their tanks they're potentially putting supplies and lives at risk.

"We need to ensure that NHS professionals who need petrol to get to work and to see patients in the community have access to fuel and aren't being deprived because of panic-buying.

"We're also seeing congestion on the roads as motorists queue on busy routes. Again, think about whether you really need petrol. This sort of queuing can potentially cause gridlock and danger for other motorists."

The North West Director of Public Health joined the condemnation, branding fuel protesters "terrorists" and warned that they are putting people's lives at risk.

During the last fuel crisis thousands of ambulances were unable to take to the road and on-call nurses and doctors could not travel to patient's houses.

Dr John Ashton said: "These protest groups are out of order and have completely lost the plot.

"We all know what happened five years ago and the impact it had on public services.

"People's lives were put in danger and to threaten a repeat of that shows that these protesters have lost all sense of social responsibility. They are nothing more than terrorists.

"These rises are a combination of the situation in China and the effects of Hurricane Katrina - to blame the government for this is ridiculous."

"Perhaps instead of protesting they should have spent the last five years looking at alternatives to fuel - they knew prices would eventually rise.

"Ambulance workers face not being able to go out on emergency calls and nurses on house calls could struggle to respond to patients in need.

"But it is not just the emergency services - every member of the NHS is a vital worker. We rely on cleaners and porters to keep our operating theatres clean and if they cannot get to work then everybody will suffer.

"But we have learned some lessons from the last crisis.

"We have looked at ways of coping with emergencies and "terror attacks" - which this undoubtedly is. "I am hopeful we can be more resilient than the last time and we will not give into these people."