Gazette can reveal. And furious gas station bosses are blaming Esso Bermuda for failing to put a tiger in their tank.

They also fear that shortages are driving customers into the arms of competitor, Shell.

Among the Esso outlets hit by shortages have been Southampton's Riddells Bay station and the Bermuda Industrial Union station in Hamilton.

It is understood the BIU station in Hamilton's Dundonald Street ran dry on one weekend around the middle of March.

And The Royal Gazette has been told the Riddell's Bay station had to shut down their pumps at least two times in recent weeks because they had no gas to sell.

It is believed gas station owners have chalked up thousands of dollars in losses because of the shortages.

One angry driver said: "I've never heard anything like this -- I always go to Riddells Bay for gas. When they told me they didn't have any, I couldn't believe it.'' Gas station chiefs were yesterday reluctant to tweak the Esso tiger's tail by commenting on delivery problems.

But one insider said: "We're all having problems -- it's getting to be that retail outlets are an inconvenience to them.'' And he confirmed: "It's happened at gas stations all over the Island -- we've been sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting for them to get to us.'' Insiders claim a new get-tough policy on paying overtime to Esso Bermuda truck drivers is to blame for the shortages.

And if deliveries are made on weekends, operators have to fork out for the driver who delivers it as well as the fuel.

The big losers have been gas station operators, who say they have been unable to get deliveries outside normal hours.

But yesterday Esso Bermuda chief Juan Herreramoro said he was unaware of problems.

If there were shortages, it was because operators were not getting their orders in line with anticipated demand.

He said: "We have the fuel on the Island and it's probably a matter of the timing of deliveries.

"They probably haven't placed their orders with the right amount of anticipation. It's certainly not that we don't have any product.'' And Mr. Herreramoro denied that a toughening up on overtime payments was the reason for the problem.

ENERGY EGY