French families face petrol shortages as holidays begin

French families faced fuel shortages at the start of half-term holidays yesterday, hit by strikes against raising retirement from 60 to 62 the day after the Senate backed the fiercely-contested reform.

Unions showed no sign of giving up and have vowed more protests in their months-long struggle against the bill whose passage into law expected this week the government hopes will end protests that brought millions onto the streets.

The vote late Friday all but sealed the reform, the centrepiece of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s agenda, and government expects the text to be reconciled with a lower house version before being definitively adopted on Wednesday.

The arrival of the school holidays provided a breather for the government, with students increasingly involved in protests ahead of the break, but families wanting to travel still suffered fuel shortages.

Six out of 10 filling stations were dry or had run out of at least one fuel in western France and a third in the Paris region, Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told journalists.

Seven of France’s 100 administrative areas or departments were short of fuel at midday yesterday after a spate of panic buying brought on by anti-reform industrial action that closed all 12 French oil refineries, he said.

Motorway service stations have been made a priority.

Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau insisted motorway supplies were “perfect,” but Borloo admitted that “four to five per cent” of France’s 300 motorway service stations were still awaiting deliveries.

Borloo could not say when the situation might be back to normal.

“It’s difficult to say when 100 per cent of refineries are stopped,” Borloo said. “Everything depends on road users.”