First fuel price protest meeting sees farmers back direct action

Farmer and haulier, Andrew Spence, who organised the meeting at Consett, Co. Durham, on Tuesday, said it was the first of four such gatherings this week, the others in Hampshire, Kent and Wales.

Each meeting would include a vote for direct action and if there was enough support, protests would start early next week, he said.

The meeting at Consett was well-supported by farmers, hauliers, coach operators and the general public, he said.

“I was particularly interested to see a lot of new faces. People have just had enough. It is getting to a point where it is really hurting people.”

As well as businesses, elderly people were being badly affected by the rising fuel prices, he said.

“At the meeting I spoke to an elderly, retired farmer, who said that if he didn’t have his car to go out and buy food and so on he would starve to death.

“It is becoming more and more difficult for elderly people as there is no public transport infrastructure. They don’t have an option.”

The details of the action were yet to be agreed, but many farmers were in favour of targeting ports, said Mr Spence, who was involved in the fuel protests in 2000 and 2005.

This could see blockades at Dover, Portsmouth and Stranraer stopping foreign hauliers coming into the country for several days. He gave the example of one French haulier that makes around 100,000 crossings to the UK each year ‘but pays nothing towards our roads’.

“The Chancellor had the chance to tax foreign competitors but he chose not to,” he said.

Farmers also want the proposed protests to highlight the problems with imported meat and the fact the Government only buys a small percentage of British meat to feed the armed forces.

“They stepped up to save a failing bank, but they wont save our industry.”

A lot of farmers have had enough of talking about the problems the industry is facing, he said. “Now it is just time for action.”

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