A PROTEST by farmers angry at the rising cost of fuel turned into a damp squib yesterday.
Pressure group Farmers For Action (FFA) tried to blockade the Shell oil refinery at Stanlow, Cheshire - the seat of the nationwide protests of September 2000.
Cheshire Constabulary said 20 men in around 15 tractors arrived at the plant, near Ellesmere Port at 5am. Protest organisers claimed there were 30 vehicles.
The police refused to let them park on the road and instead the farmers spent nearly three hours circling a roundabout more than two miles from the refinery gate.
The protest caused mild congestion and some tanker drivers apparently chose to leave via a different route, but there was no disruption of fuel supplies.
By 8am the farmers agreed to park their vehicles on the roundabout while their leaders met Shell management, in the hope of using the firm to influence the Government. The meeting proved fruitless.
The leaders then met a representative from the Transport and General Workers Union to ask the Shell tanker drivers to refuse to cross the unofficial "picket line", but they wouldn't co-operate.
David Handley, of FFA, originally described the action as a "blockade" and promised that numbers would increase throughout the day. But by 3pm numbers had dwindled to less than 15 men. A single Volvo lorry had also joined the protest, and a few hauliers arrived in cars.
Tony Blair yesterday appealed for a halt to attacks on his "character and integrity" over Iraq.
His call came as the Tories and the Liberal Democrats renewed their assault on the Premier, with the issue dominating campaigning for the second day running.
The Prime Minister said: "I have no disrespect for people who disagreed with me over Iraq.
"I simply ask them to conduct the debate on the terms of whether the judgment was right or not, rather than attacks on my conduct and integrity."
Meanwhile, charities helping the victims of the Asian tsunami look set to benefit from additional tax relief.
Yesterday taxmen at HM Revenue and Customs met representatives of the Disasters Emergency Committee and the two sides agreed a way to "streamline" the process to ensure the money gets to the charities.
