Fuel strike: petrol delivery backlog reaches two to three days, warns motor trade union He said the situation could have been avoided if the Government had engaged with haulage companies before issuing warnings to drivers. The message to the Government is, not only having caused this crisis, is to actually talk to the hauliers today about how they can best deal with this growing backlog. The pinch point is between the terminals and the forecourt tankers. We only have a certain number of tankers in this country. Emergency talks between the ministers and hauliers were due to take place today while the conciliation service Acas carries out negotiations with the Unite union. The discussions will take place after criticism was levelled at the Government for urging drivers to fill up jerry cans of fuel over the prescribed legal limit. But Baroness Warsi, Conservative party co-chairman, said it was better for the Government to prepare drivers than to allow the pumps to run dry after a strike. She told the radio show: "The Easter Bank holiday being traditionally when most people get the car out, it would have been deeply irresponsible for the Government to sit on its hands and say we're doing nothing." Describing her trip to a forecourt to fill up yesterday, she added: "I spoke to one chap and he said there are queues but we're not going to run out. Of course we now have queues but we're not running out of fuel because that fuel is being topped up.