Petrol crisis paralyses Britain By Jamie Walker, Europe correspondent in London 14sep00

BRITAIN ground to a halt yesterday with an estimated 90 per cent of its 13,000 petrol stations dry and warnings of food shortages.

Hospital operation were cancelled and a national business shutdown forced Prime Minister Tony Blair to call in the police to break a refinery blockade that doesn't actually exist. Mr Blair put his credibility on the line by announcing that he had reached an agreement with oil companies to get fuel supplies "on the way back to normal" within 24 hours. Looking tired and sounding subdued, he told a press conference at 10 Downing St the Government could not accept that policy should be dictated by illegal blockades, pickets or direct action.

"Legitimate protest is one thing  trying to bring the country to a halt is quite another," he said.

As petrol tankers began emerging from refineries in Scotland and Essex under heavy police guard, the crisis was evoking memories of the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 that brought down Britain's last Labour prime minister, Jim Callaghan, and catapulted the Tories to power under Margaret Thatcher.

Truckers have targeted the country's principal refineries and petrol distribution points to protest against high fuel excise levels that, in combination with surging crude oil prices, have pushed petrol beyond the $2-a-litre mark. Separately, "go-slow" convoys of semi-trailers and taxis travelling at a snail's pace have caused havoc on motorways and in regional cities.

The quandary for the Government is that the refinery picketers aren't physically blocking access to or from the sites, prompting accusations that the oil companies are in collusion with them to force Mr Blair to cut fuel duty. Oil company chiefs vehemently deny this but doubt persists about whether tanker drivers will be willing to run the gauntlet of the so-far peaceful demonstrations.

The apparent absence of public resentment  TV crews interviewing motorists lined up at those few petrol stations still open yesterday found most were sympathetic to the protesters despite the widening disruption  is adding to Mr Blair's woes at a critical juncture in the electoral cycle, just nine months out from an expected general election next May.

Protests against high fuel costs are also rippling across Europe, forcing European Union ministers yesterday to agree to discuss the issue of fuel taxes.

Following last week's French example, truckers in Brussels choked key roads around the European institutions near the city centre and, elsewhere, blocked fuel depots and major roads.

In The Netherlands, truckers and taxi-drivers blocked traffic on several motorways for a few hours to protest against high prices.

In Germany, drivers of about 100 trucks, 25 buses and 50 taxis demonstrated at the state parliament building in Saarbrucken, in the west of the country, while truckers assembled on a highway in Bavaria, in the south.

And truck companies were to meet today in Poland to discuss whether to start blockading oil refineries.

OPEC, the cartel that controls an estimated 40 per cent of world oil production, has cranked up the pressure on Europeans by claiming that their petrol tax policies negated their decision at the weekend to lift production by 800,000 barrels per day to ease the price pressure.

Britain has the dubious distinction of having Europe's most expensive petrol; 75 per cent of the pump price is accounted for by taxes. Unless the deadlock at the refineries can be resolved, milk and other essential food distribution will be affected by tomorrow. Vaccine distribution and non-essential surgery has already been halted in many hospitals and the BBC cited a government report last night calling for the mobilisation of the military.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 13, 2000