How fuel protests crippled Britain for a week – and could we see it again?

The new millennium was not all celebration – it saw one of the worst fuel shortages that brought the UK to its knees.

The year 2000 was in full swing when the country was embroiled in a tense fuel crisis that saw petrol pumps running dry and empty supermarket shelves.

It came after angry truckers and farmers decided to take action that would not go unnoticed in cities and towns.

The week of disruption became known as the fuel protests as those relying on petrol for their livelihoods protested high prices.

How did the fuel protest escalate? And could it happen again?

For some, the fuel protests may have come as a surprise, but discontent over fuel duty had been brewing among British farmers and hauliers.

It reached a boiling point in September 2000, leading to a campaign of direct action that other activists could only watch in envy.

They demanded a cut in the fuel duty rate on petrol and diesel which Tony Blair’s government refused to enact – until the protesters cranked up the pressure.

The fuel protests kicked off at Stanlow in Cheshire as protesters blockaded petrol refineries after anger over fuel costs among livestock farmers in particular.

From the start, the protesters agreed that the emergency services would still get fuel and protesters would be non-violent.

Within days, the demonstrations spread to Pembroke oil refinery, Hemel Hempstead oil terminal and Gateshead.

Convoys of lorries and tractors caused huge tailbacks and monster queues of traffic on roads as part of the protest, including in central London.

During the height of the protest, supermarket shelves were empty as the protesters blocked oil facilities, stopping supply to petrol stations.

To make things worse, panic buying took hold of motorists. A week’s worth of fuel was sold in just three days.

And if you drove past a petrol station in mid-September 2000, long queues to the pumps were a familiar sight.

By September 12, around 3,000 petrol stations out of 13,500 were dry, MailOnline reported.

And the protest succeeded – less than a month later, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced a freeze on the fuel duty and cut on the vehicle excise duty.

One animal rights activist commented on the protests in its aftermath, asking in awe how the hauliers managed to get the cooperation of the ‘powerful’ oil industry and the police before virtually bringing ‘the nation to a standstill in a matter of days’ without getting ‘arrested or beaten by riot police.’

Could we see another fuel protest?

The next crisis could be behind the corner, although later fuel protests in 2005 and 2007 failed to live up to the 2000 campaign.

Matthew Paterson, professor of international politics at the University of Manchester who studied fuel protests and environmental politics, said transport continues to be a central issue in today’s environmental protest and those in support of car ownership.

‘It is the area of climate policy which has been the most difficult to address – even in the UK where overall emissions have gone down dramatically, in transport they have simply flatlined,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

He said cars are an ‘obvious flashpoint’ for future protests.

This is because of the combination of how cars have been framed ‘as symbolising freedom’ and UK’s ‘relatively poor infrastructure for public transport or cycling or walking’ along with ‘the effects of privatising rail.’

Prof Paterson revealed that the next equivalent to the fuel protest might be ‘over electricity pylons.’

He explained: ‘The most likely short-term flashpoint for the climate backlash folks is the looming crisis over electricity pylons. You’ll have seen bits of this.

‘The key next stages of climate policy are in electrifying cars – and getting people out of cars and onto bikes-and electrifying home heating.

‘EVs actually don’t require much expansion of the electricity system (especially if cars can be predominantly charged overnight when there’s loads of spare capacity) but home heating electrification implies a massive expansion of electricity capacity.’

Electricity demand is likely to triple, implying ‘a massive increase in the grid capacity which means more pylons.’

‘I think that’s where we might get the most obvious equivalent to the fuel protests in the next few years,’ he added.

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