‘Stupid’ panic buyer empties out water bottles and fills them with petrol as drivers wait in 30-minute queue behind her

A "STUPID" panic buyer was spotted emptying out water bottles and filling them with petrol while she held up a 30-minute queue of desperate drivers behind her.

The daft driver was seen at the Shell garage in Cobham Services on the M25 - seemingly oblivious to the danger of using the wrong container.

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The weekend frenzy reached fever pitch on Monday morning, as motorists continue to besiege filling stations after a weekend of chaos.

Drivers are facing huge queues at petrol station forecourts across the country as the petrol pump chaos caused by panic buying and a shortage of HGV drivers continues.

The woman is seen shamelessly emptying out a 1.5 litre plastic bottle before bending down to fill it up with fuel, before repeating the process with another.

Her forecourt faux pas was captured by baffled motorist Gavin Rabbitt, who called her hazardous life hack "ludicrous".

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I thought 'I can't believe the stupidity of this woman'," the dad-of-six said.

"This is the kind of thing that causes the problem. People filling up things they shouldn't be filling up and no one else can get the fuel because of other people's stupidity.

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"The queue was all the way down the slip road. We were queuing for about 20 to 30 minutes," he continued.

"She was all blasé and doing it right in front of me. It's ludicrous."

Gavin quickly moved away from the foolish driver as he feared her makeshift petrol 'can' could have been a fire risk - while others suggested the fuel could have been contaminated by the leftover water.

Under the law, drivers wishing to store petrol must use 'robust' containers that won't degrade after coming into contact with petrol.

They must also have the words 'petrol' and 'highly flammable' written on them.

Plastic containers can only be used to store up to 10 litres of petrol.

Motor store Halfords revealed sales of jerry cans rocketed by a whopping 1,656% this weekend as Brits stockpiled fuel.

Gavin slammed the fuel station for allowing the women to fuel up at the pump - as staff are meant to monitor what customers fill up with.

He shared the footage of the ridiculous antics online, where it has garnered over 221,000 views and nearly 5,000 shares.

It comes as...

• Petrol supplies have been plundered with industry figures revealing 85% of stations have run out of fuel
• Soldiers could be called in to help deliver fuel tankers as the PM mulls calling in the army
• Brawls have broken out across forecourts - including dramatic scenes between moped drivers
• Susanna Reid slams the Government, and asks "where are they?" as leaders refuse to appear on TV
• Competition laws have been suspended in an attempt to curb panic buying
• The UK’s second-biggest oil refinery faces collapse over a £223million VAT payment
• An ambulance crashed into traffic waiting for petrol while rushing to an emergency
• Grant Shapps blamed hauliers for the chaotic scenes
• A list of petrol stations with fuel can be seen here

One horrified user commented: "That kind of plastic probably can’t even hold petrol, will likely dissolve the bottles."

"Highly dangerous. What a daft cow," another wrote.

It comes as "selfish" fuel grabbers have been slammed for exacerbating the crisis, that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said had been "manufactured" by panic-buying.

Thieves have even unbelievably began drilling holes into parked cars to steal fuel as the shortages continue.

The continued chaos has forced the Prime Minister to consider emergency plans to deploy the army to drive fuel tankers to help deliver supplies.

PLEA FOR CALM

A joint statement has been issued by UK fuel giants - including BP, Shell and Esso - ensuring they are "working tirelessly" with the government to ensure motorists have access to enough fuel.

The statement, issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: "There is plenty of fuel at UK refineries and terminals, and as an industry we are working closely with the government to help ensure fuel is available to be delivered to stations across the country.

"As many cars are now holding more fuel than usual, we expect that demand will return to its normal levels in the coming days, easing pressures on fuel station forecourts. We would encourage everyone to buy fuel as they usually would.

"We remain enormously grateful to all forecourt staff and HGV drivers for working tirelessly to maintain supplies during this time."

Up to 90 per cent of all service stations outside of motorways are now dry as Brits raced to fill up their motors and the PM was urged to "act now" to avoid even worse chaos.

But Boris' plan to bring in 5,000 truckers from the continent on short-term visas are in disarray with many set to refuse to come over.

FIGHT FOR FUEL

Brawls have broken out on petrol station forecourts as frustrated drivers clashed while queuing at pumps - turning on each other in shocking scenes.

The emergency services also aren't immune to the suffering - as yesterday it was revealed that cops were forced to jump a queue in order to get vital fuel.

As well as this, an ambulance rushing to attend a call in Bromley crashed into traffic as queues for petrol crippled the roads.

The fight for fuel has continued to spiral as motorists cram as much as they can into their tanks, jerry cans, and other containers.

Industry bosses fearing the fuel crisis could last at least another week.

One lorry driver hit out at one hoarder who he witnessed filling up several jerry cans with petrol and stacking them in his boot.

A trucker from Gloucestershire insisted his fuel driving colleagues are not to blame and the fault falls solely on "really irritating" greedy customers.

"FRUSTRATION"

The driver, who has not been named, told , that he saw one man filling up jerry cans in the Shell garage in Eastington.

He said: "This is why we are low on fuel. They had to go in and pay for the first lot to then fill the jerry cans up! It's really irritating.

"I am a truck driver and there is no shortage of drivers, believe me! There's a shortage of drivers who want to work for the companies who treat you badly and pay poor money.

"You know what it's not just frustrating, it makes me angry."

But greedy gas-guzzlers have been warned to ";beware" of carrying fuel reserves in their cars - as they could blow up.

Former senior officer in the London Fire Brigade Steve Dudeney shared the story of a haunting incident he was called to 12 years ago, alongside a picture of the devastation.

"This is a photo from an incident I attended 12 years ago," he wrote in a tweet.

"The man driving the car had filled some petrol containers up and placed them in the boot," he explained.

"The escaping petrol vapour met an ignition source in his car, this was the result. Panic buyers beware!!

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"He was still alive but badly burned when I arrived, airlifted to a burns unit, I never heard if he survived."

Motorists rushing to grab as much fuel as possible are feared to be ignoring key safety rules for the sake of stashing as much as they can.

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