PANICKING shoppers do not need to stock up on bread and milk, insists a Worcester war veteran.

Merchant seaman Dickie Valentine has urged people to remember that millions managed to survive on limited stocks of food and fuel during the war without panicking.

"People are being greedy," said the former branch secretary of the Royal British Legion. "We had to live with rationing during the war, and for some time afterwards. I shouldn't think that these days we won't see a banana because of the fuel crisis."

The Co-op's Pioneer store, in St John's, Worcester, was limiting bread to two loaves per customer, and milk to six pints each.

By mid-afternoon yesterday the shelves were empty of pasta, milk, bread and eggs.

"People who stock up are making the situation worse for everyone else," said Mr Valentine, of Tolladine.

Yesterday, the Department of Trade and Industry published a list of petrol stations that will be among the first to receive petrol.

Four of the stations earmarked for deliveries are in Worcestershire.

The Elf stations at Henwick Road, Worcester, and Worcester Road, Kidderminster, and the Total stations in Witton, Droitwich, and Marlbrook, Bromsgrove, have been told they will be the first to be re-fuelled.