Hauliers stage fuel price protest

[DVTimes]

Hundreds of hauliers have staged Britain's only planned demonstration against rising fuel prices.
More than 200 hauliers took part in the protest, which ended with them driving into Cardiff city centre and blasting their horns, South Wales police said.

Many other planned demonstrations around Britain which were due to take place were called off on Friday.

The decision came after the government said it would review plans for a 1.9p-a-litre fuel tax rise in September.

Protest organiser Martin Palmer said he was delighted with the level of public support.

"I'm very pleased, considering everybody said it was off," he said.

"There has been tremendous support from the public. I am just hoping Tony Blair and Gordon Brown take notice."

A group of protesters left Cross Hands, in Carmarthenshire, on Saturday afternoon, heading for the city centre.

Other hauliers joined the protest along its route.

But demonstrators gathering at Cardiff West services were met with a counter-protest by eco-campaigners.

Greenpeace campaigners unveiled a banner calling for taxes to be maintained.

Spokesman Stephen Tindale said the protesters were wrong to demand a cut in duty paid on fuel because it was a "vital tool" in fighting global warming.

Julian Rosser, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Concerns about rising fuel prices are understandable - but unless we end our addiction to oil and switch to alternative fuels and new technologies, this issue will not go away."

Meanwhile, a South Wales Police spokesman said the fuel price protest was "very much a peaceful demonstration".

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday that a decision on extra fuel taxes was yet to be taken, adding ministers had to be sensitive to the needs of motorists.

He echoed the chancellor's promise to keep the planned increase "under review".

Mr Brown said the focus should be on persuading Opec to get world prices under control.

Opec has agreed to raise production by two million barrels a day.

Mr Brown called that a welcome first step but argued more could be done.

Opposition parties want the planned duty rise to be scrapped.

Martin Palmer, spokesman for the Low Tax on Fuel group which organised the Cardiff protest, said comments by Mr Brown and Mr Blair were "a step in the right direction" but not enough.

He said the group's weekend demonstration was still going ahead as a protest and not because operationally it was too late to call off.

David Handley, chairman of Farmers for Action, said his group was postponing a protest.

"Gordon Brown has clearly indicated he is going to look and go back and reinvestigate the increase," he said.

"We feel we should give him two to three weeks - you can still protest in September."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3779555.stm