British Truckers Protest Rising Cost of Fuel; France Demands Fuel Tax Reduction

(AP/Press Association)

Hundreds of trucks rolled into central London on Tuesday to jam a major route into the capital to protest the rising price of fuel.

Around 300 truck drivers honked their horns and parked on a highway on the edge of the city, forcing police to close off a section of road and divert hundreds of motorists during the busy morning rush hour.

Truckers protesting the soaring cost of fuel in Britain — where diesel now costs more than $9 a gallon — called for Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government to lower fuel taxes for trucking companies.

“It’s getting to a point of being ridiculous. We simply can’t keep pace with the rising costs,” Peter Carroll, who owns a 51-truck hauling firm in Maidstone in southern England, told The Associated Press by telephone as he joined the protest in London.

Truckers say thousands of jobs in their industry are in jeopardy.

In France, the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for a Europe-wide cut in VAT to reduce fuel prices, a move that he said would help offset high prices at the pump.

“If the barrel continues to rise must we maintain a VAT rate that is proportional to the price in the same conditions?” he asked.

The price of a barrel has risen above 133 dollars.

The decision on lowering the VAT “must be European,” Mr Sarkozy said on French RTL radio, adding that he was “launching the proposal.” He said he was also looking at creating a fund to French people in need, such as fishermen, with the revenue generated by the rising tax on oil prices.

Fishermen have blocked French ports for more than a week to protest at rising fuel prices, which they say risk putting them out of business. Some look to extend the action to a Europe-wide level.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that consumer nations must ask oil producers to do something about the rising prices. She said she had already asked counterparts within the Group of 7 richest nations to “discuss this issue among consumer nations” so it can be presented to producing countries.

“We cannot eternally be in a market mode where the price climbs endlessly to the benefit of producers,” she said.