THE INCREASING tension being seen among motorists is a natural extension of what we were saying yesterday about the unseemly profits being made by oil companies.

We can understand why people are getting mad when the oil companies are making so much money on the back of increasingly expensive fuel.

And with petrol in this area now at more than £5 a gallon in some petrol stations, the anger among those who are having to fork out so much more for their fuel is easy to understand.

But there is absolutely no justification for motorists being abusive with forecourt attendants and we condemn such behaviour.

Front counter staff are not responsible for the decisions made by oil companies or petrol station management. They cannot be the target for abuse.

Anyone who takes out their frustration on forecourt staff must have a very blinkered attitude to life.

The logical extension of their thought processes would be to blame a dustbin man for unpopular decisions taken by the council.

While we understand the anger, forecourt staff are the wrong target for taking out that frustration. Maybe they would be better served lobbying their MP for some help for motorists from the government.