Fuel protest splutters onwards

A small convoy of defiant truckers is today continuing the third day of its go-slow fuel protest journey from the North East to London.

A small convoy of defiant truckers is today continuing the third day of its go-slow fuel protest journey from the North East to London.

No more than 20 lorry drivers and farmers, accompanied by protesting car drivers, have travelled from Staffordshire and through the Midlands and Warwickshire to the M6/M1 interchange.

They will then travel south on the M1 to junction 18 before joining the A5 northbound and stopping at a truck stop overnight.

Warwickshire Police has warned it will take a tough line with any protesters who sought to cause disruption on the county's roads.

Before the convoy set off, Ford Fiesta driver Tony Finlay, of Sacriston, Co. Durham, implored other ordinary motorists to join the protest.

The 28-year-old warehouse worker, who intends to follow the convoy to London, said: "The price of fuel is so diabolical that a friend of mine couldn't afford to run his lawnmower and he had such a big garden he had to sell it.

"People don't seem to have realised that car drivers can join the protest -- they think it's just for truckers, which it's not. Everybody has to buy fuel and if they feel strongly about it they should join us."