Petrol protests begin to bite

Petrol stations are running dry as protests over high fuel prices begin to take effect.

Oil company Shell said 20 to 30 stations in the North West would run out of petrol "imminently", BP says one in seven of its 140 petrol stations in the region is running short. while two of Sainsbury's 223 petrol stations have run out of fuel.

The shortage is a result of protests at the Stanlow oil refinery, near Ellesmere Port, which have prevented 60 tankers from leaving.

About 35 farmers and lorry drivers turned out for the second successive night of French-style protests at the Cheshire refinery.

Protesters in Bristol have added their voices to mounting anger over high fuel prices with a peaceful one-day demonstration in the city. Twelve drivers made a stand at two Esso garages in Bristol's Avonmouth docks area from 7.30am.

Protesters also picketed two oil refineries in Wales. Blockades mounted at the entrances to the Texaco and Elf refineries in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, meant the workers could not drive in to the depots.

Police are continuing to question a 35-year-old tanker driver from Merseyside after an altercation involving a 21-year-old picket from Denbighshhire. The 21-year-old, arrested for damaging the tanker, has been released on bail until the end of the month.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has pulled out of two engagements in Liverpool but aides dismissed suggestions that he was seeking to avoid protests over fuel prices.

Mr Prescott had been due to attend a service in memory of the 44 crewmen who died in the loss of the freighter MV Derbyshire and to open a new railway station at Wavertree. Liverpool is close to Ellesmere Port, the scene of protests by some farmers and truckers, angry at rising fuel costs.

Some reports suggested that Mr Prescott's trip was cancelled amid concerns that his attendance would prompt new protests but a spokesman for Mr Prescott's Department of the Environment, Transport & the Regions rejected that, saying he changed his diary because of Government business.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 09, 2000