Gridlock Over Gas Prices
Life Creeps Along
as Price Protests Seize Britain
By Lucrezia Cuen
L O N D O N, Sept. 13 — Driving the fuel tax protest home, convoys of
truck drivers forced London and other parts of Britain to a near
standstill
today.
In Britain, high oil prices have caused unrest.
Hundreds of truck drivers moved their demonstrations to the capital,
blocking main thoroughfares into and around the city with go-slow
protests. Many of the city’s residents chose to avoid the crush and skip
work.
Although some fuel delivery trucks have been allowed to distribute
gasoline (or petrol, as it’s called here), most British gas stations
remain closed as the fuel tax protest grows. Some fuel truck drivers have
crossed demonstration lines to join protesters and refused to make
deliveries.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Automobile Association said:
“We are
advising motorists to stay away from the center of London as we
are
forecasting that demonstrations will gridlock much of London.”
Government Takes a Hard Line
Despite a vow by Prime Minister Tony
Blair to break the blockade, the
protest showed no signs of abating today.
Blair has invoked emergency
powers bringing in police to escort fuel deliveries.
Panic buying over the past two days emptied more than half of the
nation’s pumps after a rise in fuel costs in Britain pushed prices to
around $5 a gallon — more than 80 percent of which is tax.
Ambulances
and fire services have begun cutting back services and
some schools have
closed. Hospitals are canceling all but essential
procedures.
The Royal Mail says its delivery trucks had only a day’s worth of
fuel left.
In an indication of widespread support for the protest
a poll
conducted by Britain’s GMTV found more than two-thirds of Britons
think
the blockades of gasoline refineries and depots should continue.
The poll follows a GMTV telephone poll on Tuesday, when 98 percent of
the 32,500 callers said the government should reduce the price of
gasoline.
Europe Fuming Over Fuel Costs
The fight over
the high price of gasoline is paralyzing traffic across
Europe.
Powerful German trade unions indicated they plan to start a protest
Thursday targeting not only the gas pumps or refineries, but the depots of
major supermarkets — leaving shelves across the country empty.
In Belgium, trucks blocked the center of Brussels for the fourth day.
In the Netherlands, commuters faced another frustrating morning as
truckers staged slow-downs down all the main motorways.
Protests are
also threatened in Spain and Ireland.
Skyrocketing Fuel Costs
Rising world oil prices paired with a fall in European currency have lead
to the price inflation. Crude oil hit a 10-year high of $35 last week.
A gallon of gas in Britain is running near $5 a gallon, the highest
in Europe. Fuel scalpers are reportedly selling gas for up to $14 a
gallon.
Under pressure to reduce oil prices, the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed this past weekend to raise oil supply
by 800,000 barrels per day.
However, OPEC also expressed dismay
that consumer countries did not
recognize the role of higher taxes in pushing
oil prices higher.
Britons Bite Back
LONDON, Sept.
13 — The British are terrible at complaining. It’s not
their nature;
stiff upper lip, and all.
In fact, their stoic propensity to
grin and bear it is a matter
of national pride, a virtue that saw
its finest hour during the
bombardment of London in World War II
and the postwar depression
with its shortages and rationing. To complain
was more than
unbecoming, it was downright unpatriotic.
So it comes as a surprise to many watching events unfolding
over the current fuel prices that demonstrations have escalated so
dramatically.
Truckers and gentlemen farmers, as they
like to call
themselves, holding peaceful protests, blockading oil
refineries,
bringing the country to its knees. They’re making it
clear they are
fed up with paying the highest prices in Europe for
fuel — close to
$5 a gallon.
“What’s different
is these are small businessmen,” says Rodney
Baker, a political science
professor at the London School of
Economics. “Historically, they
would never protest in public, that
would be considered vulgar. But
the old rules are changing.”
And apparently, based on public
opinion polls, the silent
majority supports the change even as it
suffers through the fuel
shortages.
A poll conducted
by Britain’s GMTV found more than two-thirds
of the nation is behind
the protesters, with 98 percent saying the
government should reduce
the price of petrol.
The British have discovered they pay more
than their European
neighbors for almost everything — fuel, automobiles,
and most
consumer products — and they have started grumbling.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “Cool Britannia” has been dubbed
“Cruel Britannia” by the disgruntled masses.
“Rip-off
Britain” Web sites have popped up where British
consumers can post
their complaints and price comparisons.
The current protests
over fuel tax may be an indication that
the middle classes are becoming
more willing to stand up and say “we
aren’t going to take it anymore.”
“We have nothing to lose,” said one farmer on the picket line.
“Many of us have nothing to go home to, we are being driven to
bankruptcy.”
— Lucrezia Cuen, ABCNEWS.com
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