Relax, there is no shortage of fuel in Rugby - and you will cause harm if you try to stockpile

Like a virus, panic is contagious and, equally like a virus, it can be extremely dangerous.

Days ago BP closed a very small number of its fuel stations because a driver shortage had been affecting deliveries.

This was effectively a non-issue. It would mean inconvenience for some because they might have to drive to an alternative station.

There is no shortage of petrol or diesel in this country so, left alone, this problem would have sorted itself out.

But our dear friends elsewhere in the media spotted a whopper of a story and, with no sense of community spirit or social responsibility, many national outlets went on the attack - spreading fear and panic over nothing.

Clearly, many elements of the media had not learned their lesson over the loo roll pandemonium of 2020 - despite social scientists directly telling the media that they play a huge part in spreading fear and causing panic buying.

And so the inevitable happened - some people saw the worrying headlines and they started going out and brimming their tanks because they falsely believed the supply of fuel would interrupted.

Then came the images and videos of vehicles queuing at stations - a journalist's dream come true.

It's a story that's guaranteed to do well because we are all hard-wired to seek out any information on a potential threat to our wellbeing or security.

Then - as social scientists repeatedly warned journalists about - publishing those images of queues made people even more frightened.

So more went out to panic buy.