Reasons to be angry...
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It's hardly surprising that many operators are still outraged by fuel prices, given that the dramatic fall in the price of oil has not been matched by savings on the forecourt—pump prices certainly don't seem to reflect the 30% drop seen late last year And if the only explanation is the relatively small percentage of final price accounted for by the cost of crude and the refining process, then this surely serves to underline once again the huge levels of taxation still being applied in fuel duty and VAT.
Whether the fuel protesters can achieve anything concrete is doubtful. But by keeping their profile high, they are at least reminding the UK government that they haven't gone away and, despite the concessions announced in November, fuel prices remain critically important for hauliers.
Chancellor Gordon Brown's warning to oil companies that the government is monitoring forecourt prices is certainly welcome—and who's to say the protesters haven't helped bring that about?
So, while these protests are very different in intention and scale to those in September, they could still do the industry the power of good— as long as the protesters stay on the right side of the law and understand that the only aim worth pursuing at this stage is to keep the issue of fuel pricing high on the political agenda.
• Fined just fr5o for ignoring the hours limits? How likely is it that the minor penalties handed out to the firefighters moonlighting for Eddie Stobart will dissuade others from flouting the rules and compromising road safety? This was a good opportunity to reaffirm a commitment to enforcement. Sadly, it's been missed.