LONDON - HUNDREDS of protesting truckers jammed a major route into London yesterday as French and Spanish fishermen blockaded ports amid rising European anger at the soaring cost of fuel.
Around 300 trucks parked on a major road on the edge of the city, forcing police to close a section of road and divert hundreds of motorists during the busy morning rush hour.
A delegation of truckers was also heading to the Prime Minister's Downing Street residence yesterday to hand in a letter calling for action.
A similar protest took place in Wales, as heavy trucks headed to Cardiff.
The truckers were protesting over the soaring costs of petrol and diesel, which have pushed their fuel bills up by almost 50 per cent in the past year. They called for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government to lower fuel taxes for trucking companies.
Mr Peter Carroll, 47, the owner of a haulage firm in Maidstone, southern England, said that organisers hoped as many as 1,000 trucks would join the protest convoy.
He said the cost of fuel for his 51 vehicles had risen by ?43,000 (S$116,000) a month since October.
'It's getting to a point of being ridiculous. We simply can't keep pace with the rising costs,' he said by telephone as he joined the protest in London.
Record-high oil prices, currently at over US$130 a barrel, have helped drive the cost of diesel in Britain to around ?1.30 (S$3.50) a litre - almost double the price in Singapore.
And British truckers say that when that is coupled with high fuel taxes, the financial impact is threatening thousands of jobs in their industry.
Mr Carroll said haulage companies will press Mr Brown to offer them a rebate of around 25 pence per litre on the cost of fuel.
Britain levies the highest fuel duty in Europe, with nearly 65 per cent of pump prices comprised of tax.
The protests, which were expected to cause traffic chaos in and around London with road closures and go-slows, stirred memories of fuel demonstrations in 2000, when prices hit ?1 a litre.
Then as now, the demonstrations started in France and spread to Britain.
Yesterday, French riot police cleared fishermen away from a key oil depot near the southern port of Marseille, while Spanish fishermen started a strike which lorry drivers were also threatening to join.
French fishermen have been staging protests over diesel prices for three weeks, and yesterday stopped the Channel ferry service at Dunkirk by blocking a road to the terminal.
Fishermen in Portugal and Belgium are also planning protests and Italy's Federation of Fishing Cooperatives is due to meet today to discuss possible strike action, the BBC reported.
The cost of a litre of diesel fuel for fishing boats in France has risen from 0.45 euros to 0.70 euros (S$1.50) in the past six months
French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday called for a cut in European oil taxes to help consumers.
'I want to ask the question to our European partners: if oil continues to increase, should we not suspend the VAT (value-added tax) taxation on the price of oil,' Mr Sarkozy said in a radio interview.
He said that he could not take a unilateral decision to suspend or cap the tax, but warned that the price of oil 'is going to continue to increase'.
Meanwhile back in Britain, MPs - nervous following protests against income tax changes which affected low income workers and led to a stinging special election defeat for Mr Brown's Labour party last week - have warned the Prime Minister to heed concerns over rising fuel costs.
Some legislators have questioned Treasury chief Alistair Darling's plan to introduce higher taxes for so-called 'gas-guzzling' cars, including SUVs, in an attempt to force motorists to use vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide.
