Emergency service chiefs have assured members of the public that essential duties will not be affected by the petrol crisis.

Firefighters, policemen and medical staff have been given exclusive access to stockpiles of petrol dotted around the South Buckinghamshire area, but bosses are still concerned that staff will not have enough petrol in their own cars to get to work.

Sub Officer Dean Elliott, the assistant station commander at High Wycombe Fire Station, said: "A high percentage of firefighters don't live in the town any more and if it (the petrol shortage) really goes on it could cause problems for us here."

Sergeant Phil Haseler, of Amersham traffic police, said patrols would be cut-back to make sure officers had enough petrol to attend 999 calls.

Sgt Haseler said although police could dip into reserves of petrol to fill up patrol cars, they had not been given the go-ahead to fill up their own cars.

He said: "Police officers that need to go out on patrol will have problems getting in."

Nursing staff are also having difficulties and South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust is relying on reserve diesel supplies from Wycombe-based haulage firm Cavewood.