PETROL deliveries were today being made to North Yorkshire filling stations - but many pumps still remain dry.

Beleaguered motorists were again queuing to fill up at garages in York as deliveries gradually made their way to the city, but police urged drivers not to buy more fuel than was absolutely necessary.

Tesco at Askham Bar has been resupplied with unleaded fuel, but Sainsbury's pumps at Monk's Cross were still empty this morning. John Simmons, York's emergency planning co-ordinator, called for public patience and restraint to ensure essential services got first call on what fuel there was in the city.

Mr Simmons said the clamour for fuel might affect the resumption of normal services.

He said: "We accept that we are not out of the woods yet, and for the public, there is still considerable disruption with just not enough fuel getting to the pumps available to them. But the general scramble for fuel will not help a speedy return to normality for key services or even places like supermarkets."

Inspector Jim Breen, of York police, said some motorists were filling up with petrol when they already had enough to last them well into the week.

He said one driver had queued for an hour to put in just £3 worth of petrol, which was all the space they had in their tank. "The situation is improving by the hour but we would ask people not to queue to top up their tanks unless they are going on a long journey," he said.

The gradual return to normal will bring relief to workers at Malton Bacon Factory, where slaughter line staff will not be working until Tuesday because of the petrol shortage.