'Slow start' to petrol boycott

Boycott organiser Garry Russell wants drivers to take a stand

A one-day nationwide protest by motorists against fuel prices has got off to a slow start, according to reports from around the UK.

All of the UK's 27 million car drivers have been urged to take part in a 24-hour boycott of garage forecourts.

Many garages have been almost deserted during Tuesday morning, but some say business is no different from normal.

If we sit back and do nothing then before too long we will have the £5 gallon

Garry Russell

The campaign has been organised by Essex website designer Garry Russell, who wants drivers to boycott pumps on Tuesday, followed by every subsequent Monday to keep the high price of fuel in the public eye.

But a planned "rolling roadblock" by road hauliers on the M20 in Kent, in support of the boycott, only managed to attract six lorries and six cars.

Mr Russell said the campaign needed wide support: "If we sit back and do nothing then before too long we will have the £5 gallon."

Price cuts

He believes the campaign has been responsible for price-cutting by supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, with prices dropping below 80p a litre.

BP and Shell have also slashed their prices, but retailers have denied the move was an attempt to head off Tuesday's protest.

Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers Association, said: "The fact is that the cost of the price of petrol over the past three weeks has fallen by almost 30%."

Many motorists questioned at the pumps on Tuesday morning blamed the government for the price of petrol, as 75% of the cost of each litre goes directly to the Treasury.

But some have been putting practical needs first.

Salesman Vaughan France, 35, of Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, said: "If I didn't need to fill-up urgently, I would make a point of not buying petrol."

Mondeo costs £50 to fill

Transport Minister Lord Whitty has refused to accept blame for high petrol prices.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the last budget had been the best for motorists in years.

We do recognise the cost of motoring is a problem

Lord Whitty Transport Minister

He said: "We cut vehicle excise duty on smaller cars, gave better incentives to less polluting fuels and cut the costs of the road haulage industry.

"The Chancellor did recognise last year that the balance of taxation had gone far enough in terms of motoring and we held back on the fuel duty escalator and gave various other concessions to motorists... we do recognise the cost of motoring is a problem."

He added: "It has been the increase in the price of crude oil not taxation which has increased the pump prices so rapidly over the last few months".

Turnout for a truckers' blockade of Dover was disappointing

Campaign organiser Garry Russell insists that the campaign is justified.

"If we paid as much tax on certain items as we do on petrol then a first-class stamp would cost £1.13, a cinema ticket would be nearly £22 and a loaf of bread would be £1.58," he said.

It now costs £50 to fill the tank of a Ford Mondeo.

Mr Russell organised the protest mainly via the internet and his website www.boycott-the-pumps.com, which has had nearly 250,000 visitors.