AT least three Ipswich garages have already run out of petrol or diesel as the snow tightens its grip on the county.

Asda, at the top end of Norwich Road, said it had closed its petrol garage Wednesday lunchtime after a delivery failed to arrive because of the snow.

BP’s Norwich Road garage was out of petrol as of 4.30pm today, while Shell, in the same street, was out of diesel.

But Tesco Extra at Copdock said deliveries had been getting through and that they had fuel for at least the next couple of days.

It comes as a trade body reported fuel companies with facilities in the east of England were reporting that they were at least two or three days behind normal delivery schedules.

The Retail Motor Industry Independent Petrol Retailers Association (RMI Petrol) said its members across the east of the UK were seeing shortages at the pumps.

A motorist from Bury St Edmunds said: “I went to three garages in Ipswich today and they had all run out.

“I should get home tonight but I just don’t know if I’ll be able to get back into work tomorrow.”

RMI Petrol chairman Brian Madderson said: “We are close to a critical point in what is fast becoming a fuel crisis as well as a weather crisis. Acute problems of supply, particularly of diesel, are being reported by our rural members in the north east of England and eastern Scotland.

“A number of filling stations are already reported to be out of fuel. The crisis is now spreading south as the weekend unfolds. Every hour that passes, the fuel crisis is intensifying.

“By the end of the weekend, tens of thousands of motorists could have no fuel.”