PROTEST WATCH
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AS CM WENT TO PRESS hundreds of operators were gathering at the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port in a last-ditch attemptto make the cost of fuel an election issue.
But they arrived on foot rather than with their trucks amid fears that they could lose their 0-licences if they took part in any illegal protests.
Dal Owen, boss of JD Owen Transport in Caerwys, said it was not a blockade but a peaceful protest to highlight their opposition to high fuel duty and the Working Time Directive: "We've come here to give politicians the chance to say what they would do in orderto help us-and we'll continue after the election."
Protests in the North-Eastand Somersetwere cancelled after Andrew Spence and David Handley, prominent in the 2000 protests, claimed they were warned off by UK security service MI5. The Home Office declined to comment.
Supt Steve Tumbull from Carlisle police said: "People have a legal right to demonstrate peacefully. However, police would manage any demonstration with sensitivity, and any law breakers would be dealt with appropriately."
• The Freight Transport and Road Haulage Associations have written to Treasury Economic Secretary John Healey expressing their concern at the impact of record fuel prices on the haulage industry.