Cars queue around the block for petrol due to blockades of oil refineries in 2000
Posted on 04/21/2008 6:53:16 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
As forecourt prices hit record levels and oil went above $117 a barrel, campaigners said they were secretly planning a series of blockades in an attempt to bring the country to its knees.
Angered by the Government's planned 2p rise in fuel duty, they pledged to recreate the chaotic scenes which saw tens of thousands of drivers panic-buying in 2000.
They said they would hold demonstrations across the country to coincide with a two-day strike being staged by workers at a major oil refinery in Scotland.
Scroll down for more...
Cars queue around the block for petrol due to blockades of oil refineries in 2000
Up to 1,200 employees at the Ineos refinery will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions.
And the operator was accused of "economic terrorism" today by the union whose members are due to strike.
It is feared that the strike, in conjunction with widespread protests, could cripple supplies by as early as Friday.
Last night, the People's Fuel Lobby said the "unrest and ill-feeling" towards fuel price rises was growing.
"We are getting taxed to the hilt to pay for unnecessary spending by this government," said its co-chairman Mark Francis.
"People will no doubt remember what happened in 2000.
"We hope this protest, along with the planned strike, will be as big, if not bigger.
"We fully expect motorists to fill their cars in advance and as more people fill up, the quicker the forecourts will run out."
The Unite trade union said today that the company's plans to "close down Scotland" were a disgrace.
Mark Lyon, Unite's Grangemouth organiser, said the union had a discussion some weeks ago with Calum Maclean, chief executive of Ineos Refining.
Mr Lyon told BBC Radio Scotland: "He told us that Ineos strategy in the event of us announcing industrial action would be virtually to close down Scotland and close down the economy of Scotland.
Scroll down for more...
A petrol garage in Ashford without petrol during the fuel crisis of 2005
"In his words, what he said was, once the forecourts are empty, once the airports are closed and the economy shut down, this would provide a favourable negotiating climate for Ineos and it might force the unions to concede pensions.
"Now this is economic terrorism and it's absolutely disgraceful."
The company strongly refuted the "economic terrorism" claim.
An Ineos spokesman said: "There's absolutely not a shred of evidence or truth in what Mark Lyon is saying.
"What's important right now is that we get back to talking. We need to sort this problem out."
The company maintains there will be an impact on fuel production from today, when the first of the site's crude oil units is switched off.
Motorists were urged not to rush to fill up their tanks as this could speed up shortages.
Industry experts said there had been signs of panic-buying in the country's major cities, although rural areas had not yet been affected.
Scroll down for more...
Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland where workers are planning to strike in a pensions row
Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said there had been "scaremongering" on both sides of the dispute, and advised drivers to behave normally.
He told BBC Radio Scotland: "We would urge people to follow their normal routine. Doing that will ensure fuel supplies continue until at least the end of the week before any shortages start to appear."
Scottish Finance Minister John Swinney said it was "absolutely essential" that both sides come together to talk and try to resolve the dispute.
He said he had spoken with the management and to the trade unions and passed on a Government message that they should talk and try to resolve the issue.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, he said: "What I'm trying to do is to make sure that the Scottish economy and the consumers of Scotland are in no way disadvantaged by a dispute which I think it must be perfectly possible to resolve by negotiation and by dialogue.
"I think the whole situation is wholly unacceptable, that Scotland, our economy and our people may in some way be disadvantaged or inconvenienced by this dispute."
He said the Government had asked Scotland's eight Strategic Co-ordinating Groups (SCGs) - which comprise the emergency services, local authorities and other key agencies - to put in place contingency plans to ensure continuity of fuel supplies.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has planned the 2p a litre rise in duty to come into effect in April.
But in the Budget he bowed to pressure and deferred it until October.
Since then, the average price of petrol has risen by 1.75p a litre and diesel by 4.25p while the cost of filling a 50-litre tank has gone up by 87.5p.
Most drivers are paying 108.22p a litre for petrol, with the average pump price for diesel at 117.68p.
AA president Edmund KIng called on the Chancellor to abandon the 2p rise, adding: "Families are having to reduce high street spending."
In Scotland, Ineos warned that it had started shutting down the refinery at Grangemouth so that it is safe during the strike.
This would effectively close it for a month.
"This is a huge oil refinery and you can't just turn it on and off like a tap," said Tom Crotty, its chief executive.
Light crude touched $117.05 in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, continuing last week's record run.
Weekend comments by Opec officials that the oil cartel is unlikely to increase production as well as an attack on a pipeline in Nigeria boosted prices.
Ping!
You’ve gotta love the Brits and their unions.
Liberalism can so easily show its dysfunction.
It appears as though the UK has reached "peak price."
Seems ‘the regime change’ is due in Britain soon. :-)
Did I read this right? They are raising gas taxes even as prices soar?
You mean socialism a la Democrap Party and worse in the wings from farther lefter idiots like Obama and Hitlery? Hey, thanks to a commie-infected row of liberal presidents from FDR, LBJ, JFK, Cahter to Billy Jeff, we now live in a socialistic Republic. It’s very hard to deny. In dismay, I’ve watched them turn our nation leftward for 60 years.
Keep that instability in the oil market with all the alternative fuels idiocy.
Good job Al, you’re our Noah. Unfortunately your ark isn’t seaworthy.
Meanwhile the little people wait in long gas lines while the royalty take the AF helicopters to a stag party.
Me think it time for a royal beheading/revolution
This isn't about "rising fuel prices" or the cost of a barrel of oil.
It's about a damned TAX INCREASE!
Leave it to the idiots running the government - when there's a crisis with rising prices on everything, what's the solution? Raise taxes, of course.
“Me think it time for a royal beheading/revolution”
So what good is that going to do? I think you’ve misplaced your criticism.
-ccm
They are toying with forces of nature
Royals won't be taking a AF helicopter to any more stag parties :)
What’s it going to take to cause the same thing in the U.S.? $5/gallon gas? $6? $7? The Brits may be going nuts but nuttiness can spred.
“Royals won’t be taking a AF helicopter to any more stag parties”
That’s true! The Royals have enough money to pay for their own helicopter and fuel.
Won't be the same thing in the U.S. due to difference of size. Could be regional in the U.S.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.