And the latest on possible fuel protests... and I can hardly believe this myself, even of this government... they're threatening to take away hauliers' licences.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 31,00.html (My bold)
Quote:
Protest hauliers warned that they may lose licences
By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor
POLICE chiefs have told hauliers who protest at British refineries this week to expect a tough response.
Whitehall has ordered police to report any lorry used in any protest to the Vehicle Inspectorate. Hauliers, who plan demonstrations at refineries from 6am on Wednesday, have been told that they risk losing their licences to operate if their vehicles are involved in any blockades.
Brynle Williams, the man behind the stand-off at the Stanlow refinery, Cheshire, that provoked the fuel protests in 2000, and who is now a Conservative member of the Welsh Assembly, has contacted Treasury ministers in an attempt to head off trouble.
He has told John Healey, the Financial Secretary, that freight operators are very angry and that the country should expect more protests.
Mr Williams has offered to mediate because of his close contact with the industry.
He said yesterday that he had spoken to Mr Healey by phone. “I told him these threats are very real and that people were angry about government attempts to prevent peaceful protests, which is an infringement of civil liberties,” he said. “Police have made clear that hauliers can expect tough treatment from vehicle inspectors.”
Mr Williams has told the Treasury that the real threat to the country will be if hauliers “park up” and cease deliveries until fuel duty is reduced.
He apparently told Mr Healey that he knew operators who between them account for 2,000 lorries who were prepared to take this action. Roger King, the chief executive of the hauliers’ association, has told the Treasury that the mood among his members was hardening. He said that the Treasury should introduce a regulator to cut duty on fuel as prices rise.
Senior figures in the industry, however, are uncertain whether hauliers and farmers will join the demonstrations on Wednesday. They do not wish to play the prospect down in case the situation escalates on the day.
It is clear that some hauliers and farmers would prefer other forms of action. Besides a plan to leave trucks at a standstill and take a week’s holiday, another plan is to have rolling convoys on motorways. South Wales Hauliers are planning a 100-mile convoy along the M4 on Friday, from Crosshands in West Wales to the Magor junction just before the Severn Bridge crossing. This convoy may also decide to show its strength outside a Tesco distribution depot in Magor.
In the South West, Richard Haddock, a beef farmer who led refinery protests in Plymouth in 2000, has switched tactics and is opposed to returning to the refineries. Instead, he is trying to organise a protest at every filling station in the region to coincide with the start of the Labour Party conference on September 25.
“It really is up to ordinary motorists and the general public to join this protest,” he said. “The whole community can give a message to the Government this way. We rely on cars in the countryside. They are not a luxury and fuel prices are hitting everyone. The bus companies say they will have to put up prices and even a nurse at my GP surgery complained to me about extra costs travelling to work and going on visits.”
Jim Macauley, a haulier from Blantyre, near Glasgow, said that he did not expect many protests north of the Border. “The solution is a political one and what we need is an essential-users’ rebate to compensate for high fuel costs,” he said. “That is what ministers should be working on.”
Andrew Spence, a haulier, farmer and spokesman for the Fuel Lobby, from Consett, Co Durham, said that he was due to hold talks today with Scotland Yard. He confirmed that an approach had been made by French hauliers for British protesters to help to close the port of Dover. The French planned to close Calais.
“I put it to my guys in the South East — they are up for it and I’ve left it up for them,” he said. “I’m not sure they’ll do it, but there’s a strong possibilty that a farming contingent will go to Dover.”
While I think blockading is going a step too far I feel that these sort of government threats are a disgraceful abuse of power. Stuart Harding case writ large.
Words fail me at this point. Well, polite ones anyway. Suffice to say that once again the government have made this country just that little bit more unpleasant to live in than it was last week.
Bastards.
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