A former oil company executive says ministers should consider enforcing driving restrictions amid an impending fuel supply crisis.

Nick Butler, former BP head of strategy and a policy advisor to ex-PM Gordon Brown, said limiting drivers to alternate days based on their vehicle’s registration number would be one measure.

Another would be for employers to allow an extra day off for staff every week to reduce commuter traffic.

He urged the Government to reassure people by telling them ‘what was going to happen’ if the Iran war dragged on.

‘If supplies are cut by 20 per cent than someone is using 20 per cent less,’ he said.

‘The Government has to protect the key sectors of the economy – food supply, health service, schools and so on – and then it has to work out how it’s going to manage the market for the rest of us.

‘I don’t think they can just leave it to a free-for-all which would be chaotic and very regressive and unfair to those of limited ability to pay.

‘I don’t think it’s going to be ration books. 

A lot of countries around the world are now beginning to look at how you gently reduce consumption – driving alternate days for different registration numbers, having an extra day’s holiday a week – that’s what some countries in the Far East are doing.

Nick Butler, former BP head of strategy and a policy advisor to ex-PM Gordon Brown, said limiting drivers to alternate days based on their vehicle’s registration number would be one measure

Another would be for employers to allow an extra day off for staff every week to reduce commuter traffic (stock image)

‘Those sort of measures are a form of rationing that will constrain demand in order to bring a new balance with supply.’

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the squeeze on fuel would not be resolved quickly – even if political agreement was reached.

‘There is real damage to facilities and supplies,’ he said. ‘Some refineries have been knocked out, the gas terminal in Qatar has been knocked out and that will take a long while to put back into order.

‘So we’re going to have a problem over quite an extended period.’

Mr Butler, a visiting professor at Kings College London, said ministers needed to maximise production of the UK’s North Sea oil, although this was not an immediate solution.

Meanwhile consumers should be protected against price-gouging by fuel suppliers through ‘forensic audits’ of company accounts.

‘The Government should be setting out a plan now to manage really serious potential shortages which could develop if this conflict goes on and [the Strait of] Hormuz isn’t opened pretty soon,’ he added.

‘The risk is panic buying which would be terrible. The Government has a responsibility to calm the market by showing how they are going to cope with this situation.’