SUPPORT for fuel protests is growing with a unanimous vote in favour of direct action at a meeting this week.

Farmer and haulier, Andrew Spence, who organised the meeting at Consett, Co. Durham, on Tuesday, said it was the first of four such gatherings this week, the others in Hampshire, Kent and Wales.


Each meeting would include a vote for direct action and if there was enough support, protests would start early next week, he said.

The meeting at Consett was well-supported by farmers, hauliers, coach operators and the general public, he said.

“I was particularly interested to see a lot of new faces. People have just had enough. It is getting to a point where it is really hurting people.”

As well as businesses, elderly people were being badly affected by the rising fuel prices, he said.

“At the meeting I spoke to an elderly, retired farmer, who said that if he didn’t have his car to go out and buy food and so on he would starve to death.