Pumps run dry as Greece walk out

The shortage was the first serious consequence of growing labour protests against the government's emergency spending cuts programme.

Customs workers have extended their strike against wage freezes and bonus cuts until next Wednesday, when unions across Greece will hold a general strike that is set to bring the country to a standstill.

European finance ministers have warned Athens that it must demonstrate signs of fiscal improvement by March 16 or it will be ordered to impose even tougher budget cuts.

Greece has promised to slash its deficit from an estimated 12.7 per cent of gross domestic product to 8.7 per cent this year.

Finance Ministry officials claim that they are under EU pressure to axe the public servants' so-called "14th salary."

Greek workers get their annual salary divided into 14 payments, with two of them given as holiday bonuses.

"We would consider cutting the 14th salary to be an act of war," said trade union umbrella group GSEE leader Yiannis Papagopoulos.

"The measures must be socially just and this is something that we have not seen so far.

"They are generally aimed at wage-earners and pensioners, while business remains immune.

"It is finally time for those who for so many years gathered riches to pay up, invest and help to deal with the major problem at this time, which is unemployment."

Taxi drivers also held a 24-hour strike, protesting against parts of the austerity package which increased the fuel tax and will force them to issue receipts.

Taxi drivers chanting: "The measures mean unemployment" staged a noisy protest in central Athens that choked traffic.

"These measures won't do anything - all they will do is throw us out of work," said cab driver Anastasis Damianidis. "We can't become tax collectors - that's what they're trying to do. We will keep demonstrating."

The EU warned the Greek government that it expected an immediate answer on how it used transactions known as currency swaps and how that had affected debt and deficit figures.

The EU can take Greece to court under threat of daily fines to change its statistics methods.

It is already threatening legal action for Greece's failure to report accurate public finance figures last year.