Are the strikes affecting you?

The CGT union claim that the strike has now affected all eight French oil refineries and equally, the government say that only around 20% of petrol stations are affected. But with motorists posting images on social media that clearly show more and more stations running dry, it seems that the 20% figure is conservative.

It's hard to get a handle on it down here in the south west where there's been no real disruption to date but I've got several friends who are literally stranded 'up north' and with calls for open ended metro strikes, a walk out at power plants tomorrow and air traffic control potentially getting involved, it's obviously going to affect more and more of us.

I'm (hopefully!) off to the UK next week to see my mum who has just come out of hospital. As James has a herniated disc, organising my departure has been akin to planning the invasion of a small country so I am determined that a few strikers won't stop me - I'll walk if neccessary! But joking aside, how is it where you are? Have your petrol stations run dry? Is it going to affect your travel plans?

More info of fuel stations affected, view the real-time map and download the app here

Plenty of petrol and diesel round here in Gironde according to FR3. Judging by our own observations this appears to be accurate.

absolutely nothing around me, everytime there is a delivery its gone fast, 20 euro limit which is fine as thats near enough a full tank on the bike, and no jerry cans.

my partner has been off work for a week and and has a fullish tank in the car so i can syphon some out of that for now, infact i am going to have to syphon my partners tank for the second time this week shortley to put enough fuel in the bike to get to work for the rest of the week. luckilly though, i drive past 3 petrol stations on my way to and from work so if there is fuel on my way home i can just pull into the queue and grab some.

we have had to cancel a weekend at her brothers this weekend as we just can't risk burning fuel without the prospect of getting more.

shopping is being done at the local (carrefour) convenience store which is more expensive than town but again, we can easilly walk there.

i think if you take the 20% as a national figure you may well be acurate but around me its definatley nearer 80% and everytime one gets a delivery its drained within hours

but all this said, personally i think the inconveience is a very small price to pay to save workers rights being eroded and am in full support of the strikes. if i have to start cycling to work, so be it, yes it would take 6 times as long and i would be knackered at the end of it but i think you have to decide if you are willing to suffer some short term inconvenience to maintain your rights or if you want to pushed into working longer hours for less money with less security and worse conditions,

if i was to recieve a call to strike then i would be out there with them.

all petrol stations empty here in northern provence

The penurie.mon-essence.fr info is not accurate for central Brittany - we have a 20 litre limit everywhere and our 2 nearest stations are either out or out of some types (luckily I did get some deisel).

Very sparse here in the Vendee, limits on amounts and most of the big supermarket sites only getting the odd delivery and running out quite quickly, lots of smaller local garages not getting any.

Jura: Carrefour has long queues (for cheapest fuel in the area) and we filled up the main car on Saturday when visiting town.Friends had no problems on the autoroute when returning home via St Malo from here. We are driving to Alsace in a couple of weeks and then straight to England but hope it will be over by then. We have a petrol station/garage in our village which is unlikely to run dry. I'm more concerned about autoroute service stations.

I'm a bit fed up with hearing "our beloved leader" say that there are 90 days supply. Clearly he hasn't sat in a queue waiting for 20 litres. Hope they can sort this out quick.

Trouble is, everyone fills up to ensure they don't run out, so there may be 90 days' supply but most of it is in vehicles. Once tanks are full, but cars aren't going anywhere much, it is much harder for drivers who have to go further afield than the village school, because there's nothing left at the petrol stations. For this reason I hope they prioritise autoroutes when refilling stations. Otherwise there will be people camping out in Aires with empty tanks. Panic buying never helps in the long run, hence the 20€ limits.

By what I know and what I see....this could get seriously worse...people are fed up and determined to get to the core of this working law impacting seriously our rights ...so yes I would think it is going to last and government is playing it down...but never have I see so many people so mad...if you have a bike plan on using it sorry to say but these are not a few strikers...this is very important to most French citizens and they are pretty determined

Leclerc at La Cavaille, Bergerac was closed for a couple of days. Open when we passed by yesterday, but only selling diesel. Haven't been out much to check other places. Like Catharine, we are due to head north - on Friday - to Le Mans, and then to Dunkirk. If we can get on to the ferry with a litre in the tank, I should manage to reach the first filling station in Dover! Bonne route to one and all!

Good point Diana. But if everyone else panics, we have to decide if we are prepared to risk a 5km round trip with a wheelbarrow to fetch our shopping!
On Monday, all the fuel stations were running out, with long queues here in Normandie. We made a point of telephoning first, to save wasting fuel searching around and found that Intermarché still had petrol, but no diesel - and no queue! The SP95 ran out just as we drove in, so I topped up with E10. That should last us at least 10 days, with care. Hopefully everything will be back to normal by then. Didn't want to be seen filling a can and invite comments about the selfish Brits, so I have no fuel to mow the grass. Anyway, I have heard that ethanol is not good for Briggs & Stratton motors.

Here in Vendee (85) [close to the border with Deux-Sevres (79)] there is a 30 Euro limit at our local supermarket. A bit of a queue (10 mins or so) but not too much of a problem at present. The queuing seems to be caused mainly by people visiting fuel stations more frequently in order to keep their tanks topped up.

Egletons area. 19. One supermarket has run out, as has the garage. Super U still selling diesel and petrol 3 days ago with no restrictions on amount. That may have changed now. Village petrol stations are mostly empty. Our village garage has closed down for good. This was one strike too many for him. He's already emptied the premises, and shut down the pressure washer. Great shame, as he was the local agent for John Deere garden machinery as well as others, and serviced most of the locals mowers etc, as well as supplying parts.

Up until yesterday, when I filled up in Monein, there was plenty of fuel and no queues. Haven't been out today so can't comment. It would be a bit of a pain, but if push comes to shove, I'm close enough to the border to go and have lunch in Spain and fill up there!

Yesterday our local supermarket fuel station (13230 Port St Louis du Rhone) had been burgled and sucked dry overnight; today the queue was impressive...

I took the precaution of topping up the larder and freezers (so I'm as guilty as anyone, should Lidl sell out of Kangaroo, wild boar and ostrich), so we're good until we go away in June! No idea of the situation here as Bellegarde sur Valserine doesn't appear on the interactive map, however the Swiss petrol stations aren't far away should things get bad.

This appears to be the equivalent of the miners' strike in the UK. They are holding the whole country to ransom and people who live in the countryside and have longer distances to travel are hit worse. What happens when people can no longer get to work or there are no food deliveries?

We have had two of our gite guests pay the full amount, so we hope this will be over before we start receiving cancellations. There must be so many people whose livelihood is being more seriously affected than the strikers and it is time that France is prevented from going on strike every time there is a difference of opinion.

So, we're to take it you weren't on the side of the miners strikes are we Jane?

We're due to drive down from Charente Maritime to Biarritz and then on to Albi at the end of this week and are more than a little worried about the fuel situation. Could anyone down that way say if they've had any difficulty getting diesel? Thank you.