'No plans to use army' amid fuel shortages - Government

George Eustice said there was not a shortage of fuel and called on motorists to stop "panic-buying" petrol and return to their normal pattern of purchasing after footage has emerged of long queues in south London.

His comments came amid reports Boris Johnson was considering sending in troops to deliver fuel to petrol stations following days of long queues at the pumps.

In a pooled clip for broadcasters, Mr 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.

Jacob King/PA Wire

"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."

• 'Panic-buying idiots have directly taken food off the table for my wife and son'

Industry leaders have warned drafting in the Army will not on its own end the shortages on the forecourts.

And the industry has warned that drafting in the Army to deliver fuel to petrol stations will not on its own end the shortages on the forecourt.

Queues in Orpington over the weekend

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) chairman Brian Madderson confirmed some training had been taking place "in the background" for military personnel.

But he warned it was not an "absolute panacea" and that there was no "single lever" the Government and the industry could pull to resolve the crisis.

With long queues at filling stations continuing over the weekend, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced on Sunday he was temporarily suspending competition laws to allow the industry to share information so it can target areas where fuel supply is running low.

1953. Soldiers being shown the operation of tankers at the St. Leonard's Wharf heavy oil depot in Poplar, east London. PA/PA Wire

The move came after Mr Johnson said the Government was creating 5,000 three-month visas for foreign lorry drivers in an attempt to ease the pressure on hauliers which has been blamed over the problems.

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

But with no immediate sign of the problem easing, Mr Johnson is reported to be holding a series of meetings to consider whether to activate the military for Operation Escalin.

The surge in demand led the PRA to warn that as many as two thirds of its membership of nearly 5,500 independent outlets were out of fuel on Sunday, with the rest of them "partly dry and running out soon".

For Labour, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the haulage industry had been warning for months about the shortage of drivers, but ministers had simply ignored them.