Fuel Crisis: Drivers Face Rationing--UK (truckers to protest/troops)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


3//The Scotsman, UK Sun 11 Sep 2005

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1921402005



FUEL CRISIS: DRIVERS FACE RATIONING

Brian Brady, Westminster Editor



Ministers fear fuel supplies are on the verge of widespread disruption and have drawn up plans to deploy troops to guard refineries and introduce petrol rationing.



Sky-high forecourt prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have prompted veteran fuel protesters to threaten motorway go-slows and refinery blockades in the coming week.



The government has responded by drawing up unprecedented plans to keep fuel supplies moving, using the military if necessary.



Scotland on Sunday can also reveal that hauliers' leaders have been summoned to the Department of Trade and Industry and warned that drivers will face the full force of the law if unlawful protests take place.




(SNIP)



Despite the plan, officials and the haulage industry are keen to talk down the prospect of fuel protests for fear of sparking panic. Chancellor Gordon Brown also attempted to calm the situation, insisting the economic impact of the soaring fuel prices would be "limited".



But behind the scenes in government, colleagues are preparing for the possibility that an upsurge in public unrest could destabilise the fuel supply.

MORE

[mhr]

1. With Peak Oil Upon Us - This Will Become The Norm

The West's version of "let them eat cake."

[PeaceProgProsp]

2. I think there's another story here.

The fuel hauliers are very anti-labour. They were responsible for the shut down of fuel deliveries in the late 1999 or 2000 when there was no structual cause justifying it. They tried to make it look like Labor policies were responsible.

I don't know if it's the case, but Labour might be more woried about the hauliers exacerbating a problem that the country, government and private industry could otherwise handle.

The Scotsman is the more conservative of the two Scottish papers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they manipulating this story to scare the public into voting for Tories.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The rationing would definitely be just because of the protest

but I think the British readership would take that as the message from this article. Unlike the USA, there haven't been any queues, or rumours about shutdowns, at petrol stations in the last couple of weeks. You have to go back to 2000 to get that - as you say, the last time these protesters tried it. So I think we Brits would immediately say "rationing - that will be because of the protests".

You're right that some of the 2000 protesters are anti-Labour - Fuel protester on UKIP shortlist <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3698015.stm|Protest leader now Conservative politician>. They were protesting against the regular increase of tax on fuel - a policy that Labour inherited from the Tories, ironically.

[Barkley]

3. 'the impact of the soaring fuel prices would be limited' to the middle

classes and the poor