UK fuel protesters head for parliament

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Hundreds of British truckers hit the road to London Wednesday to take their protest about high fuel prices to lawmakers.

Truckers from all over the United Kingdom parked on a motorway in west London before police guided convoys a few miles to parliament.

The high price of fuel also spawned protests Wednesday in India: similar demonstrations have also unfolded recently in France, Spain and South Korea.

UK truckers say the high price of fuel is forcing them out of business. They complain of competition from European truck drivers who can fill up more cheaply on the continent before driving into Britain.

Unleaded gas is now approaching $11 per gallon in the UK: for haulage companies, who use diesel, the cost is even higher. In the United States the average price of gas is around $4.09 a gallon.

"The government needs to realize that the surge in oil prices has changed the world," said Peter Carroll, a spokesman for the pressure group Transaction.

"It is madness to insist on charging the highest level of fuel duty in the EU on top of a world price that has rocketed."

One trucker, Michael Edmunds, from Wiltshire, western England, told The Associated Press: "Business life for us at the moment is hard -- very hard. It's got to the stage where I'm wondering whether it's all worth carrying on. I'm only a small haulier. We are simply getting swallowed up."

Wednesday's protest follows a similar demonstration by truckers a month ago in London -- one of many worldwide as the price of oil continues its underlying rise.

In India union officials said Wednesday that truck drivers had halted work to demonstrate anger at the hike in fuel costs and road tolls, AP reported.

The move came as the government in Bangladesh, which has to import its gas, raised the price of subsidized fuel by 67 percent, the agency added.

In Spain last month truckers blockaded roads across the country, sparking panic buying of fuel and food. Strikers had demanded the government impose measures to soften the impact of fuel hikes.

Similar protests were also seen in France and Portugal, while consumers have also demonstrated in India and Malaysia.

In South Korea more than 13,000 truckers went on strike last month, also calling for fuel to be subsidized and a minimum wage to be introduced.

The stoppage badly impacted the nation's major ports, cutting trade to just over a third of pre-strike levels: South Korea's economy is heavily dependent on exports.

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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