Fresh evidence of the impact on business of the recent fuel crisis emerged on Friday as the British Retail Consortium reported that retail sales had fallen more than �200m ($293m) last week.

The drop came despite panic food buying which caused a �44m surge in food and drink sales.

The BRC said that overall retail sales were 6% lower in the week ending 16 September as consumers stayed at home to preserve petrol.

Economists said the impacts of one-off shocks were usually short-lived for retailers, with purchases merely delayed.

September slowdown?

The recent fuel crisis could cause a slowdown in retail sales in September following the unexpectedly strong 0.6% rise in August, they said.

But any downturn in growth would be likely to be reversed by the fourth quarter.

The impact of the fuel crisis would probably be more keenly felt in manufacturing industry where disruptions to supplies and deliveries would take longer to iron out, economists said.

Also on Friday, department store business The John Lewis Partnership reported a 10.3% fall in sales for the same week.

In figures that mirrored the industry-wide trend, food sales at the firm's Waitrose stores were much stronger, rising 24.9%.