A new petrol price war was raging last night with the supermarket chains Sainsbury and Tesco both promising unleaded fuel for under 50p a litre. And the oil giant Esso, which fired the first volleys in the campaign last month, stoked the fires by pledging that it would not be undercut.
Esso has launched “Pricewatch” promotions in the north- east of England and central Scotland where it says it will match any rival prices.The company said that the schemes could be extended nationally if they proved successful.Sainsbury’s responded on Thursday by saying its maximum price for unleaded would be 49.9p.Within hours of the announcement, Tesco said it would fight back by matching its rival’s offer.”You won’t find cheaper petrol anywhere in your local area,” Tesco petrol buyer Jason Tarry said. But few of the protesters were happy with the compromise.Jo Le Mesurier, widow of the Dad’s Army actor John Le Mesurier, and one of the second pair allowed to lay flowers, said: “This is farcical. Why don’t they let us go through in one fell swoop and get it over with? At this rate it will take all morning.”Mr Pugash said: “If we held up the traffic even for a few minutes we would have major disruption so we offered the compromise of taking them over two by two.”Initially we said they could gather up the flowers in groups and then one or two of them could place them on the roundabout in what is a busy part of the town, and which they accepted.”. Mrs Wells said: “The way the police are treating us is as if we are criminals.”The police said that to hold up traffic for just a few minutes would cause “major disruption” in what is a busy part of town. The tour passed off peacefully although the protesters angrily sounded their horns when a lorry filled with livestock left the lairage at Petham as they approached.Six lorries loaded with sheep and calves passed through Dover at 9.30am, one of two cargoes expected through the port yesterday.The next convoy was expected at 12.30pm, and the planned memorial service was not allowed to go ahead.After negotiations with police, demonstrators were finally allowed to go in pairs to lay flowers outside Dover Eastern Docks.Most of the protesters were unhappy with the compromise and responded by chanting: “Just like Noah’s Ark – two by two.”Among those waiting to lay flowers were Joyce Wells and Eileen Chambers, both 79 and both from Herne Bay.

This is to prevent any accidents and danger to both motorists and the protesters themselves.”No arrests were made but furious protesters claimed they were being persecuted and that they had a right to lay the flowers.One said: “If they just let us lay these flowers it would all be over in a couple of minutes. The police provide escorts for the lorries carrying these animals but they won’t escort us across the road.”Earlier, a cavalcade of more than 40 vehicles, organised by Kent Action Against Live Exports, had travelled around three lairages where animals are kept at the villages of Capel, Petham and Shepherdswell. Angry demonstrators screamed abuse at police in Dover yesterday and tried to break through their ranks after a heated protest that was supposed to have been a peaceful memorial service. About 60 of the 200 demonstrators, who gathered in Dover to mark the six months since the restart of live animal exports through the port, were demanding to lay bunches of flowers in front of the Eastern Docks, but they were denied permission by Kent police “for safety reasons”.
A police spokesman, Mark Pugash, said: “We can’t just let lots of people go across the road. She added: “We will be watching with concern for what comes out of the meeting. It could provide a perfect opportunity for anybody who has got a gripe against climbers and wants to turf them off a crag.”. But the more likely threat was to smaller crags where access might to be eroded without galvanising an “essentially laid-back community”.

The strategy will be seen at Sofia as a nice idea in principle but it needs to be workable and costed.”Climbers remain apprehensive, however, fearing that even agreement in principle could be used by landowners and conservation bodies to justify bans and restrictions.Gill Kent, editor of the magazine On The Edge, said the prospect of the loss of a cliff like Gogarth was “absolutely unthinkable” and would have climbers up in arms. A DoE spokeswoman said: “The document will not be the same when it comes out. The Countryside Council for Wales described the arrangements as “a model example of a good practice site”.This is the type of approach the BMC would like substituted for paragraph 10.5, and it could be acceptable to the Dutch-based European Centre for Nature Conservation which drafted the Sofia strategy.The Sofia meeting – which will be attended ministers of the Council Europe, a wider grouping than the European Union – will deal primarily with the environmental problems of eastern and central Europe.”Although the strategy will not be legally binding, we must assume that European governments will take it seriously and will seek to implement as many of the proposals as possible,” Mr Barlow said.Mr Gummer’s department yesterday described the strategy as a “wish list” and said there would be wide consultation, “including with mountain people”, before anything was concluded. But the cliff is also a nesting ground for puffins, guillemots and choughs and so from February to the end of July a voluntary ban was in force in sensitive areas. Each year, in co-operation with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the council publishes a detailed list of cliffs subject to restrictions.One example from this year’s list is Craig Gogarth on Anglesey, one of Britain’s most challenging sea cliffs with routes of around 350 feet.