[WATCH] Motorists line up at fuel stations as industrial action looms

Motorists line up at fuel stations as industrial action looms

Petrol stations around the island saw a big surge in the number of motorists wanting to put fuel in their cars, following the news that they would not be able to fill their tank up after 6pm for the coming days.

Fuel stations will from Tuesday start operating on reduced hours, after negotiations between the government and the GRTU stalled on issues of funding.

The union - which is insisting that such stations need financial help from the government or Brussels to upgrade their services by 2020, in line with an EU directive - said the measures would remain in place until an agreement is reached.

READ ALSO: Fuel stations to operate reduced hours as talks with government stall

MaltaToday visited a popular petrol station in Naxxar, where substantially longer than normal queues of cars had formed.

Unusual queues of motorists waiting to fill up their cars formed at petrol stations on Tuesday morning. (Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday)

Various motorists we spoke to said they wanted to fill their tank up after they heard of the partial strike, with a few others saying that they were simply following their normal routine of putting fuel in their cars, and were not doing so specifically because of the industrial action.

A man responsible for the petrol station said that, while he did not think there was cause for any undue alarm since the industrial action would only take place in the evening and the stations would be open as usual during the day, he had today experienced a lot more customers than was typical.

"We've seen several more cars than usual, and it started being like this since 6am. I heard some other stations are running out of fuel, but I don't have this issue as we have large supplies here," he said.