WE could be forgiven for thinking that the country is falling to pieces as we watch the news this week.

Floods stranding people in their homes, trains running slow or not running at all . . . and drivers queueing at the pumps to panic buy when there is no need at all to do so.

The tailbacks in Swindon are not on the same scale as they were in December when the petrol blockades were at their height.

But the queues are creeping up and some pumps have already run dry.

All this is happening despite Home Secretary Jack Straw's assurances that everything will be done to maintain fuel supplies.

And despite David Handley, chairman of the People's Fuel Lobby saying that the protesters will not be returning to the refineries.

During the last crisis, schools were forced to close, bus services were limited, drivers could not get to work and even Swindon Town had to postpone a clash with Cambridge United.

Last time the problem was out of the hands of the general public. This time, we are perilously close to causing it ourselves.

In September the protesters set a 60-day deadline for the Government to meet their demands.

That deadline does not expire until next week.

We urge those motorists who are simply filling their tanks for the sake of it to think again.

You could be hampering someone whose need is greater than yours.