Today marks the start of a strike by tanker drivers who deliver fuel to Royal Dutch Shell petrol stations in the UK, after last-ditch talks over a pay dispute disintegrated last night.

The drivers, who rejected last-minute pleas from Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call off the action, have halted the supply of fuel to about 1000 Shell garages – which is around 10 percent of the UK’s 9,500 petrol stations.

Shell garages will run out of fuel “almost immediately” according to Len McClusky, the assistant general secretary of Unite, the drivers union, adding that all of the oil companies’ forecourts will be affected within 24 hours.

The union decided to strike would take place after they rejected a 7.3 percent wage rise this year, from the haulage companies Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, the sole suppliers to Shell garages.

To try to appease the drivers, a second offer of a 7.3 percent rise followed by a 6 percent increase next year was offered, which would increase annual average earnings “to around £41,500”, but it was also rejected by the union.

Unite now plans to picket oil terminals, including Ellesmere Port on Merseyside and Grangemouth in Central Scotland, to prevent supplies getting through to Shell garages.

The Petrol Retailers Association has appealed to the public to avoid panic buying, which could make the situation worse, and say that there is sufficient fuel at rival garages to supply motorists. They also noted that Shell would have had enough time to ensure their own storage bunkers were as full as possible.

The industry is privately irritated at the intervention of the prime minister, who they believe has encouraged panic buying by exaggerating the threat to supplies.

Mr Brown, speaking at his regular press conference in Downing Street, refused to rule out calling in the army to keep fuel flowing. He warned that the government was willing to do “everything we can” to ensure petrol pumps don’t run dry. 

Bernie Holloway, a company spokesman, said: “We offered a substantial amount to the drivers. We extended our offer to the very limits that our business could sustain. We are disappointed that our improved offers have been rejected. Unfortunately, it looks likely now that there will be a damaging and costly strike.”

Unite, who were hoping for a 13 percent wage increase this year, claim that drivers’ pay had effectively stagnated since Shell outsourced its delivery operations in the 1990s. Unite also claimed that provision had “been made for fire, police and the emergency services”.

Mr McCluskey said: “Shell’s failure to intervene in this dispute means that Shell’s drivers have no alternative other than to go ahead with strike action, beginning on Friday June 13th 2008.

“This dispute could have been resolved if Shell had advanced a fraction of the billions of pounds in profit they make every month.”