The Nairobi City Council has been forced to suspend the newly introduced Sh2000 parking fee imposed on oil tankers in industrial area after the transporters went on strike on Wednesday.

The fees were to affect all tankers parked on Nanyuki Road where most of the petroleum companies have their depots. The chairman of the Kenya Independent Petroleum Dealers Association Joseph Karanja said a temporary agreement was reached on Wednesday night to suspend the fees and revert to the regular Sh140 parking tickets.

The council and government agencies will meet the transporters on Friday next week to discuss the alternative solutions to the parking fees dispute. Several parts of Nairobi had already started experiencing fuel shortage due to the strike.

"We have resumed transportation, but as expected there is a supply demand backlog and therefore some retail outlets may run out of stock before we reach them," said Karanja.

Most of the dealers and transporters had not placed their orders yesterday as the strike took effect, due to uncertainty on when it would end.

The dealers lift between four and seven million litres of fuel from the industrial the depots daily and supply most of the regions stretching from the Tanzania border, Nairobi, central and northern Kenya.

The transporters complained that despite the fact that they have to queue for long hours outside the depots for the fuel, there is no designated parking space for their trucks leaving them with the road side as the only option.