A WEEK on from the fuel crisis and it appears many of the more dire predictions failed to materialise.

Co-operation between members of the public and public services contingency plans, coupled with the protesters' decision to call off their protests, averted the meltdown in public services.

Jo Clarke of Harvington told last week's Journal she was worried her homecare company Someone Cares would be unable to reach its 400 elderly clients.

She said: "Many local garages rang us with offers of emergency supplies of petrol and we had a good response from drivers who were willing to ferry us around - we thank them all very much indeed."

There were also fears the WRVS Meals on Wheels would be brought to a halt but food services manager Jayne Stock said people came to the rescue.

"We received a very good response from the public which, fortunately, we didn't need in the end, but even so we're very grateful," she said.

Farmers too, many of whom are busy harvesting, also anticipated problems but they were saved to an extent by the weather.

Heavy rain slowed down and in some cases stopped cultivations and Bill Newman, at Manor Farm, Hinton-on-the-Green, said: "It helped us conserve our supplies of diesel and we shall have no problems now."

Countrywide Fuel at Evesham reported a big backlog of diesel deliveries to farms to clear but all drivers were working and the company could not foresee problems.

There were no reports of any power failures and postal services also managed to continue almost as normal.

Gwyn Williams, Royal Mail sector operations manager for Herefordshire and Worcestershire said services were now back to normal.

He said vans serving Evesham, Pershore and Broadway had filled up from the reserves at the Worcester depot and had maintained at least one delivery and collection a day in all areas, although last Sunday's collection was cancelled.

Schools and shops also managed to continue as normal with only isolated reports of staff or pupils being unable to get in.