UK Fuel Price Campaigners Arrested in Motorway Go-Slow Protests
11:07 GMT 04.07.2022 (Updated: 15:20 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AFP 2023 / ANTHONY DEVLIN
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The protests were organized by FairFuelUK in response to the near-doubling of gasoline and diesel pump prices since the government announced a moratorium on oil imports from Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine.
Fuel price protesters have been arrested after snarling up traffic on motorways across Britain in a series of go-slow convoy protests.
Convoys of vehicles drove as slow as 30 mph on Monday on the M4 across the Severn Bridge from Wales to England, the M5 past Exeter, the M54 and M6 in the north-west and the M180 in Yorkshire.
The protests were called to demand Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty and implement the campaign's 'PumpWatch' scheme to name and shame price-gouging gas stations, where prices have topped £2 per litre.
Many of the protesters were heavy goods vehicle drivers or tradespeople who complained of having to spend over £300 per week on fuel just to get to jobs.
"My only option soon will be to put the welding gear in the shed and call it a day, maybe go on the dole," said protester Richard Dite from Maesteg, South Wales. "Face it, at this rate I'll be on more that way."
Fuel protest ‘go slow’ on the M4. I’m in a van with protester Richard Dite who is leading a 30mph procession of vehicles as his horn blares the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. We’re approaching the M4 Severn Bridge. pic.twitter.com/tcztcJXTG4
— Conor Gogarty (@ConorGogarty) July 4, 2022
Lorry driver Vicky Stamper from Cwmbran in South Wales said she and her partner lost jobs in the past week.
"We had to leave those jobs because it was costing us £380 a week just to get to and from work," Stamper said. "I then lost a job two weeks ago because the company couldn't afford to put fuel in that many lorries so, last in first out."
She called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign over the price crisis.
Police stopped at least two of the convoys before lunchtime and detained the protesters.
Police are speaking to each of the drivers. Officer tells me they will be taken to custody. pic.twitter.com/PgCzzn96GH
— Conor Gogarty (@ConorGogarty) July 4, 2022
25 May 2022, 13:17 GMT
The protests were organiяed by FairFuelUK, which campaigns for lower costs of motoring, in response to the near-doubling of gasoline and diesel pump prices since the government announced a moratorium on oil imports from Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.
"These are not just demonstrations against the record excruciatingly high petrol and diesel prices that rise each and every day," stressed campaign founder Howard Cox. "They are also about the sickening chronic manipulation of pump prices and the complete lack of scrutiny by our out of touch Government, in allowing unchecked petrol and diesel profiteering to run rife."
The campaigner said the "self-proclaiming low taxation Conservative government" was "wallowing in £3 billion of extra VAT [Value-Added Tax] in just the last year alone" thanks to "these record unaffordable prices."
"They continue to be in denial, a state of torpor and seem clueless in reducing the pain of the crippling cost of living crisis," Cox charged. "There are so many evidential examples of obvious pump price exploitation in the last 20 years, but during COVID years and since the onset of the Ukrainian crisis, the big fuel supply chain businesses have reached the lowest of lows in ripping off UK drivers at will."
