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| Truckers protest high fuel costs | Truckers protest high fuel costs |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A convoy of about 45 trucks has taken to the roads across central Scotland as part of a protest over fuel prices. | |
| They lorries and heavy goods vehicles left Hamilton Services and are moving eastwards towards Stirling, along the M74, the M8, then M9. | |
| The Road Haulage Association said the high price of diesel and fuel taxes were putting businesses and farmers livelihoods at risk. | |
| The UK Government said the situation was being monitored. | The UK Government said the situation was being monitored. |
| It is the first major fuel demonstration in the UK for more than two years. | |
| This demonstration will continue to highlight the problems faced by the haulage industry Phil FlandersRHAS director Why have prices risen? | |
| RHA Scotland said many hauliers had found themselves having to requote for business as prices had soared. | |
| Calls for action to keep costs down have grown in recent weeks, as the average petrol price broke the £1 a litre barrier for the first time. | |
| Truckers want the Westminster government to introduce a fuel price regulator, which would freeze fuel duty while the price of oil remains volatile. | |
| They are also unhappy about a 2p government increase in fuel duty introduced in October. | |
| Distance costs | |
| First Minister Alex Salmond backed the calls for a regulator last month, saying Scots hauliers were more vulnerable to rises as they often had to travel greater distances to their markets. | |
| RHAS director Phil Flanders said: "This demonstration will continue to highlight the problems faced by the haulage industry due to the current high price of diesel, made worse by the imposition of higher fuel taxes and their effect on the UK economy." | |
| The demonstration was being monitored by police. | |
| The action falls short of protests in autumn 2000, which saw refineries blocked off by fleets of lorries resulting in nationwide shortages at petrol stations. | |
| The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said the situation was being monitored and plans were in place to "mitigate any future fuel supply disruptions". | |
| A statement from the department read: "Any disruption to fuel supply would cause a great deal of inconvenience to people." |