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NOW PETROL STRIKE CHAOS

Fuel tanker drivers are set to strike

Thursday June 5,2008

By Louise Barnett

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(19)

JUST when you thought it couldn’t get worse, tanker drivers have demanded a 13 per cent pay rise.

BRITAIN’S motorists are facing further misery, with a strike by fuel tanker drivers set to shut more than 1,000 petrol forecourts.

The 500 drivers, who mostly supply fuel to Shell garages, have voted to stop working within days over a 13 per cent pay claim.

The action could halt fuel supplies to one in 10 garages across the UK, leading to potentially devastating shortages in some areas.

Last night a source from the union Unite, which represents the drivers, said the strike had the capacity to disrupt petrol supplies massively. And he warned that secondary picketing would hit fuel supply centres and other petrol stations across Britain.

The source said: “This will bring petrol forecourts to a halt and picket lines will not be crossed.”

A strike would particularly affect motorists in rural areas and at motorway services where Shell garages are often the only option for miles around, according to the AA.

It would also put pressure on rival fuel outlets as desperate motorists go elsewhere to fill up.

The action comes as thousands more angry drivers joined the Daily Express crusade for fuel duty cuts, while millions of drivers suffer from punishing price rises. More than 36,000 people have now signed the vouchers calling for a large and immediate reduction in the tax on Britain’s fuel.

Union officials are today meeting the drivers’ employer in a last-ditch bid to thrash out a pay deal and avoid industrial action.

But with tanker drivers demanding a 13 per cent pay rise and their employers, Hoyer UK, offering only six per cent, it seems a compromise deal is a long way off.

Brendan McLoughlin, of the comparison website PetrolPrices.com, said: “If the Government stopped pocketing the extra tax it is getting because of spiralling oil prices and cut fuel tax instead, then Shell drivers wouldn’t need to strike because their cost of living wouldn’t be so high.”

The threatened strike will create fresh misery for drivers already forking out record prices for their fuel.

A recent strike at Scotland’s Grangemouth refinery prompted panic-buying in some areas.

RAC motoring strategist Adrian Tink said: “This really couldn’t have come at a worse time for motorists, who are already feeling the pinch. If petrol forecourts are forced to close, this will have a profound effect on all road users.”

AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said motorists in rural areas with little choice of petrol station would be the hardest hit as well as Shell-branded motorway service stations.

“That could be absolutely horrendous if drivers aren’t aware that there are problems to the supply of that particular filling station,” he said. “You could end up with people running out of fuel on the motorway.”

Unite says the drivers’ pay demands come in the wake of “stratospheric” profits for Shell.

Earlier this year the oil giant reported profits of £3.92billion for just the three months to March 31.

Shell produces about 16 per cent of the UK’s petrol and diesel and supplies about 880 forecourts all around Britain, of which 550 are owned by Shell and the rest are franchises.

A Unite spokeswoman said: “We hold Shell firmly responsible for causing this mess and we think they are the ones who should be solving it.”

Shell, however, said it had no employment contracts with the tanker drivers and the dispute was between the drivers and Hoyer UK.

A Shell spokeswoman said: “We urge both parties involved in the dispute to find a way to work through the differences and reach a speedy agreement.”

Hoyer UK director Bernie Holloway said: “We are extremely disappointed that it has come to this. We have what we think is a very good offer of six per cent with no strings attached.”

Mr Holloway admitted a strike would cause some disruption.

“We, and I am sure Shell, will do all we can to minimise that,” he said.

“If we couldn’t deliver to them for some time that could present problems but that depends on the type of industrial action and the duration of it.”

We are extremely disappointed that it has come to this

Hoyer UK director Bernie Holloway

NO OIL SHORTAGE !

06.06.08, 12:02am

We learn today from very authoritative sources that there is NO shortage of oil in the world, and that the oil remaining untapped in British waters is the equivalent of the volume which we have extracted since it was first discovered !
(Any yes, it IS British oil, not Scottish oil.)
That leaves us with the question "What the hell is going on here ?" Why are we paying nearly £1.20 per litre for petrol?
We are clearly being conned here.
The only question is who is doing the conning.

• Posted by: TrevorD • Report Comment

PETROL STRIKE

05.06.08, 5:37pm

There are some very nasty and disturbing comments on this subject; almost incitement to violence.
Do some people really want a general strike, with all that it entails, because tanker drivers (hardly in the low pay bracket) demand a 13% rise?
Can we expect more of this if the Tories come to power?

• Posted by: emigrant • Report Comment

LANDSCAPER BACKS FUEL PROTESTS

05.06.08, 5:30pm

It is just ridiculous the price of unleaded petrol thanks to Gormless Brown, if everybody in all industries caused chaos Brown would get the boot!

• Posted by: lawnmowerman1 • Report Comment

HOW CAN WE BLAME THE DRIVERS

05.06.08, 5:05pm

They along with the rest of us have had to watch the Great British MPs, their heads immersed in the trough of public funds, sucking up as much as they can, without even a hint of shame.

They live in ivory towers protected from all price rises by inflated salaries, exorbitant expenses, over generous pensions and God only knows what other perks.

The rest of us have had to struggle by on meagre wage rises (if any at all) and watch with dismay as our MPs fill their boots, pockets and any other receptacles which they have to hand.

I am not particularly a fan of social unrest, but this country is now in such a state, that its time for Joe public to be heard.

Go for it guys.

• Posted by: torres • Report Comment

JONOCYNIC9

05.06.08, 3:37pm

Governments do have the power to keep things from the general public, like people striking. Its been going on for years. Its a ploy to keep everybody else in the dark and not to jump on the band waggon, but with the internet it is now near on impossible to keep things quiet, plus there are plenty of people whistling blowing. I hope this latest unrest gains momentum and brings this stinking Government down with a bang. I really do hope David Cameron does a good job when he gets in, if he and his don't, I fear things will turn ugly, in the near future. As people have had enough of being taken for a ride and taxed into oblivion. When the masses have nothing to lose (Literally), well.......

• Posted by: fireowl • Report Comment

STRIKES THE ONLY POWER?

05.06.08, 10:39am

What's with the Express today. I've signed in four times and had an entire comment wiped out? What I have to say, again, is that although strikes are drastic, and often hurt innocents, sometimes they are the only way to get through to the arrogant that enough really is enough. This "government" has wasted billions of OUR pounds on inane and inefficient projects that only loony toons could dream up - yet we are expected to pay for it all by higher taxes untill our lives get stressed and countries abroad think we are a bunch of political idiots. I've been waiting for something to give for quite a while, and maybe this is the beginning of a big wake up call.

• Posted by: bluenote • Report Comment