RUMOURS of another fuel crisis swept Chorley this week -- just as the town was recovering from last week's crippling protest.

It is understood a hoax put out over the internet caused the panic on Tuesday.

Queues reformed at filling stations -- including on both the north and south bound carriageways of the M6 at the Welcome Break service area, Charnock Richard.

A garage spokesman told the Citizen: "Apparently from what we have been told by Shell someone had put a hoax out on the internet and motorists are queuing up again.

"They are queuing down the slip road on both sides of the motorway -- you are probably talking about 20 to 30 cars in the queue.

"We've no problems with supplies."

Police warned people throughout Lancashire not to panic as the fears gathered momentum.

Chief Inspector Peter Smith, of Lancashire Police, said on Tuesday afternoon: "We are aware that there are long queues building at petrol stations and that there is a perception amongst the public that there will be an impending fuel shortage.

"At this time there is not information to suggest blockades anywhere around the country and as far as we are aware tankers are moving as normal and there is no need to panic buy."

Fuel station pumps began to fill up again at the weekend, much to the relief of running-on-empty motorists. And supermarket shelves were re-stocked.

Organisations throughout town were reporting "business as usual" this week.

Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust had activated emergency plans to deal with potential problems last Tuesday as the crisis began to bite, though no operations were cancelled as a result.

A trust spokesman said this week: "We were never really affected, but we are back to running normally."

Chorley Borough Council maintained its core services and carried out housekeeping adjustments to conserve fuel and put contingency plans in place.

The authority was running normally again, but monitoring the situation.

Lancashire County Council also reported normal service. Areas such as local and school buses and social services were hit.