THE panic buying situation was further exacerbated following comments, which were later retracted, by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude who advised people store fuel in a jerry can in their garage.
Dorset Fire and Rescue Service have warned people not to store fuel unless they have an ‘absolute safety-critical need’ to do so.
Head of Service for Olympics and Resilience, Bob Hark, said: “Unless you have an absolute safety-critical need to store petrol on your premises, do not do it.
“It is a highly flammable liquid that gives off an extremely highly flammable vapour which is very easily ignited. The consequences can be catastrophic.”
The fire service issued advice for people on storing petrol. But a spokesman said: “Our advice is not to store it in the first place.”
• Store petrol in a place that is not part of or attached to a building used as a dwelling
• Petrol must be stored in approved plastic or metal containers
• People can legally store up to 30 litres of petrol in two 10-litre metal containers and two appropriate 5-litre plastic containers.
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