Talks between tanker drivers and those who employ them are to be resumed today in an effort to prevent another strike taking place next weekend.

The strike – by 640 drivers employed by hauliers supplying more than 900 Shell garages - ends at 6am on Tuesday. Petrol retailers say there is enough fuel in the pumps to outlast the action.

After eleventh-hour talks broke down last Thursday night, the situation appeared deadlocked, but the re-opening of talks over the pay-dispute is encouraging.

Bernie Holloway of Hoyer UK, the largest of Shell’s suppliers, said: “We are pleased that this step forward has been made and will make every effort to draw these talks to a successful conclusion.”

John Hutton, business secretary, praised UK motorists: “Although the strike has inconvenienced motorists, they have shown commendable common sense and restraint which has minimised its harmful impacts.”

The Petrol Retailers Association had earlier said that most forecourts remained open over the weekend and that they should have enough fuel to last out the final day of the strike, which ends at 6am Tuesday.

Shell claims only 8 percent of their 8,838 petrol stations across the UK had been affected “by shortages of one or more of fuel grades”. The company did warn motorists that “with another day of strike still to come, it is inevitable that in time we will continue to see more difficulties with supply”.

The drivers union Unite has rejected a pay offer of 7.3 percent this year and 6 percent next year which would raise the 640 drivers’ average annual earnings to “around £41,500”.

Unite is demanding a 13 percent rise this year, and claims Shell is to blame for holding down contract prices and curbing pay rates for drivers because the company outsourced transport in the 1990s.

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley, said Hoyer and Suckling did not have the money to settle the union claim because Shell was being “greedy”. He said tankers were the equivalent of “mobile bombs” and drivers deserved higher pay.

Hoyer insists its pay rates are competitive. It says drivers have had rises of 27 per cent over the past four years – twice the rate of inflation.