DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK): Campaign diary 2005 Running out of gas: “The group Farmers for Action, which caused tremors and long queues at petrol pumps around Britain in 2000, tried to stage a repeat at the same Shell oil refinery at Stanlow, Cheshire, where it had such success before.” (ShellNews.net) 26 April 05

By Philip Johnston

(Filed: 26/04/2005)

The spectre of fuel protests that five years ago threatened to undermine Tony Blair's chances of re-election shimmered on Labour's horizons yesterday, but sadly for those who want to see a bit more tension in the electoral process, it turned into a mirage.

The group Farmers for Action, which caused tremors and long queues at petrol pumps around Britain in 2000, tried to stage a repeat at the same Shell oil refinery at Stanlow, Cheshire, where it had such success before.

But it was not to be. By mid-afternoon, 15 tractors had dwindled to seven and a couple of Range Rovers, not really enough to blockade a moderate sized Shell garage, let alone a giant refinery.

Roger Hopley, a sheep farmer and one of the organisers, blamed the weather, which he said was too good. "Last week it was raining and we had nothing to do, so the turnout would have been excellent, but today is the first fine day for a while, and the lads have a week's work to catch up on, so it's been quieter."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/26/nelec1126.xml

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