CHANCERS keen to make a quick quid from those desperate for petrol are selling jerry cans for £50 each.

An advert appeared on Facebook Marketplace, offering desperate motorists the chance to buy fuel for almost £10 a litre.

The post offers two green five-litre cans full of fuel, with drivers able to buy both for £80 - or one for £50.

It comes as the government placed the army on standby to drive petrol tankers as filling stations in many parts of the country continue to run dry.

Drone footage taken from the Old Shoreham Road, Brighton, showed the scale of demand in the city, with hundreds seen queuing for miles.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said that ordering troops to begin preparing to take on deliveries was the 18th separate measure take by the Government since the spring to alleviate pressure on supplies.

However he acknowledged that Brexit had “no doubt” been a factor in the current problems with a continuing shortage of lorry drivers.

Mr Shapps said there were the first “very tentative” signs that the situation was beginning to stabilise with more fuel reaching filling stations.

He admitted, however, that it would take time before the pressure on the forecourts began to ease.

“There are now the first very tentative signs of stabilisation in forecourt storage which won’t be reflected in the queues as yet,” he said.

“But it is the first time that we have seen more petrol actually in the petrol stations.

“As the industry said yesterday, the sooner we can all return to our normal buying habits, the sooner the situation will return to normal.”

The advert, which was seen by The Argus, has since been removed from Facebook Marketplace.