There are no signs of motorists panic-buying at petrol pumps ahead of planned refinery blockades, fuel retailers indicated today.

Mark Bradshaw, head of Garagewatch, which represents 6,500 independent retailers in the UK, said forecourts had been "quite quiet".

Petrol Retailers Association director Ray Holloway also said there was no panic-buying or shortage of fuel. But he is urging the government to set a pre-emptive "minimum fuel purchase".

This would prevent drivers with nearly-full tanks needlessly queuing, as many did during the fuel protests in 2000, he added.

Protests against the fuel tax are being planned after the price of unleaded reached £1 a litre in parts of the UK.

But Mr Holloway said, unlike in 2000, the rising cost was being created by soaring oil prices and not taxes.

And the effect of the disruption caused to the US industry by Hurricane Katrina was now beginning to reverse, he added.

Supermarket chain Asda, which runs 146 petrol stations, also said there was "certainly no panic".

Protestors were not intending to halt deliveries, so there was no need to panic, he added.

Campaigners from the Fuel Lobby have given ministers until tomorrow to meet them to discuss their grievances - or face protests.

They want to see an immediate reduction in taxation to bring fuel prices down.

Previously the demonstrations were proposed for Wednesday, but yesterday, Andrew Spence, from County Durham, a spokesman for the Fuel Lobby, said: "The plans have changed now.

"It is on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in different parts of the country."

He said the expansion of the proposals had been prompted by the popularity of the protests, and would also now coincide with the fifth anniversary of the original demonstrations on Friday.

The 2000 protests witnessed refinery blockades, and brought Britain to a standstill.

Mr Spence revealed French lorry drivers were preparing to blockade the port of Calais on Wednesday, and wanted English colleagues to do the same in Dover.

Alan Greene, of the Welsh Less Tax on Fuel Group, which comprises members of the public, coach operators, hauliers and farmers, said they were planning to travel along the M4 from Cross Hands in west Wales to the Magor Services near Newport and back on Friday.

A Department of Trade and Industry document details measures including purchase limits, restricted opening hours, and moves "to discourage motorists from the practice of topping up their fuel tanks at frequent intervals".

Chancellor Gordon Brown has said that the DTI document was about normal contingency planning to deal with a "natural problem" and not specific to any fuel protest.

"The way we will deal with this is in a common sense and stable and effective way and I think it is by identifying what the real problem is," he said.

"And I think that hauliers as well as the farmers who depend on fuel understand that the real problem is a global challenge."

Roger King, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said there was a "very strong case" for the government to reduce fuel duty, particularly for commercial vehicle operators.

"We don't necessarily think a great deal is going to be benefited by protests as described, but we understand the feeling of hauliers and it does help to underline the difficulties the industry currently faces" he said. He said VAT receipts on petrol purchases increased as the price went up, "so there is scope there for the chancellor to introduce a temporary measure, to take the worst of these price increases away".