High fas prices fuel British protests

LONDON - From the remote Scottish highlands to the shadow of Big Ben, gasoline pumps were running dry Tuesday all over Britain - and tempers were running high. Protesters furious about high prices and high taxes blockaded fuel depots, and the shortages set off panic buying.

The sharp reaction by British truckers, taxi drivers and other citizens heightened a public outcry that has snarled traffic across Europe, with blockades in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Prime Minister Tony Blair reassured the nation Tuesday evening the fuel supply would be "on the way back to normal" in 24 hours, with police ready to break up blockades and escort gasoline trucks out of refineries. Trucks began departing depots after his remarks.

The reassurances came after the public and the press channeled much of their rage at the Blair government for not easing gasoline taxes in the face of oil prices, which have soared to $35 a barrel, the highest in years. Taxes account for 74 percent of the cost of gasoline in Britain, which is the highest in Europe at $4.31 per gallon.

"Blair snubs fuel campaign ... but it doesn't affect him, does it?" the mass circulation Daily Mirror proclaimed on its front page Tuesday - under a photo it said showed the prime minister speeding in his chauffeur-driven Jaguar past a line of automobiles waiting at a filling station.

Hospitals and ambulance services reported delays, the Royal Post Office warned its deliveries were "seriously threatened," one undertaker said he would be unable to transport corpses and British Midland and Britannia airlines told pilots to refuel abroad.

Protesting truckers parked their rigs outside refineries across Britain, and oil companies by and large refused to send loaded fuel trucks onto the road, citing the danger of explosions.

"These guys are doing it to save their livelihoods," said Mike Salmon, of the British Road Haulage Association, representing truck drivers, farmers and others who claim that the double whammy of high oil prices and taxes could bankrupt them.