A blockade will begin today at the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

A blockade will begin today at the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, which supplies one in six garage forecourts with fuel. Other protests are planned at oil storage depots and refineries at Felixstowe, Buncefield in Hertfordshire and Grangemouth in Scotland. Convoys travelling at 20mph will also bring chaos to hundreds of miles of motorways. “The gloves are off; we’re prepared to hold Stanlow as long as we can,” said protest leader Ian Charlesworth. “Hopefully we’ll get into a no‑fuel situation. “Fill up on Sunday because there won’t be fuel on Monday at some places.” Organisers of the Stanlow Fuel Protest and Direct Action Group claim up to 1,500 vehicles in five convoys, including lorries, cars and motorcycles, will head there from lunchtime today at little more than 20mph.

A blockade will begin today at the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

Protesters from Manchester, Liverpool, Staffordshire, Shropshire and North Wales will cause huge tailbacks. The M6 and M62 will be particularly badly hit. “Rising fuel costs are a real problem for everyone, not just drivers,” said Mr Charlesworth, of Hawarden, North Wales, who has laid off four workers at his construction firm because of soaring fuel bills. “The price of food is going up because it is more expensive to transport it and small businesses are being forced to close down because they can’t afford to run their vehicles.” The protesters have been plotting today’s action for months but claim even more people than they had hoped will now join the blockades after the price of crude oil tumbled on world markets last week yet fuel prices at the pumps did not reflect the drop.

“Shell has just revealed it made profits of £6.9billion in the past three months, up 41 per cent on last year,” said Mr Charlesworth. “It’s particularly bad for ­people living in rural areas who rely on their vehicles to get around. They don’t have the option of choosing whether to get in their cars, they just have to. Today is a chance for everyone to stand up and be counted, to say we’ve had enough of being ripped off.” The AA and other motoring organisations across Europe are demanding an EU investigation into fuel prices. AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “In July 2008 crude oil was $145 a barrel and petrol was being traded at a record high of $1,200 a tonne. Last week oil was down to below $125 yet petrol was still costing $1,180 [a tonne]. The prices just don’t match and we deserve an explanation.

“These high prices for petrol are continuing at a time when we know demand is tumbling. Petrol sales are 13.5 per cent lower in the UK than three years ago. “It seems to us that commodity dealers are keeping petrol prices artificially high to make huge profits for themselves.” Last week UK motorists were paying up to £1.49.9 a litre for petrol and £1.55.9 a litre for diesel, according to price comparison website petrolprices.com, which monitors 11,000 forecourts. “The fuel price protesters will get sympathy from motorists but as soon as people can’t fill up their cars that mood will change,” said Brendan McLoughlin, managing director of petrolprices.com.