• Organisers of last week's refinery pickets have rejected allegations that they intimidated tanker drivers, forcing them to stay put.
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John Jones of JH Jones & Son, who was part of the first picket at the Stanlow refinery says: "They were definitely not intimidated or threatened. They were coming out on their bikes and cars and we spoke to them at length on the matter. No one who felt threatened would have come out like that" A spokesman for the Road Haulage Association says that the government latched on to one or two isolated incidents of intimidation in an attempt to discredit the protesters.
But a spokesman for the Transport & General Workers' Union condemned the protests as unlawful, saying fuel tanker drivers had been cut up on the motorway and received threats against their families.
"It was note picket, it was a blockade," he alleged. "We had reports of intimidation and abuse and had one fuel tanker windscreen smashed by a missile thrown by a protester. These incidents caused a level of fear and intimidation among our drivers which is totally unacceptable. They have a right to go about their work without this."