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Action but no choreography

28th April 2005, Page 7
28th April 2005
Page 7
Page 7, 28th April 2005 — Action but no choreography
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AS A WAVE OF fuel protests kicked off this week it was increasingly unclear who was leading them and if there was any co-ordinated action.

As CM went to press there were protests taking place in South Wales, Essex and Hampshire although so far no fuel deliveries have been disrupted.

About 30 vehicles, believed to be run by a mixture of farmers and operators, led a series of protest convoys M the New Forest near the Fawley oil refinery. It remains to be seen if this will lead to a picket of the refinery. In Essex, the British Hauliers trade association was leading a protest outside a refinery in Purfleet involving a dozen trucks.

Mike Presneill, who is co-ordinating the protest,says:"It appears again that at this time the RHA and FTA are reluctant to pick this up. Here is an industry in absolute financial chaos and the trade associations aren't doing anything."

Presneill says that so far fuel supplies have not been disrupted, but he is hoping to persuade tanker drivers not to cross its picket lines.

However a spokesman for the T&G union, which represents the majority of tanker drivers,says:"It's a point-blank refusal.We are not in dispute with either the fuel companies or the fuel distributors so there's no such thing as a picket line here.We don't share their tactics."

Presneill says the protest will carry on as long as the rest of the industry gives it support, stressing that the protest is about the WTD as well as the price of fuel.

However support is unlikely to come from the trade associations the RHA is busy co-ordinating its own protest up in Scotland and the FTA remains opposed to direct action.

FTA chief executive Richard Turner says: "We don't believe in trying to interfere with the democracy of a legitimately elected government by physically disrupting the supply chain. We also don't believe in upsetting our customers.

-Look at who's demonstrating and ask yourself how representative of the industry they are. They are people who have failed to negotiate reasonable rates with their customers where fuel price fluctuations are taken into account."

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Organisations: Essex

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