PROTESTERS planning to bring the country to a standstill are now aiming to target leading supermarkets in a protest over fuel prices.

Ian Charlesworth, from Hawarden, and Kevin Bowker, of Saltney, organised a massive go-slow in North Wales which they claim resulted in the shutdown of Ellesmere Port’s Stanlow Oil Refinery yesterday.

Simultaneous protests and blockades were also planned to be carried out at the same time across Britain as thousands of angry motorists made a stand against the rocketing price of fuel.

Mr Charlesworth, spokesman for the Stanlow Fuel Protest and Direct Action Group, said he was determined to continue protesting until the Government acted on their protests even if it meant staying well into the night

Speaking on the afternoon of the protest, he said: “It’s going very well and we’ve had a massive turnout.

“Stanlow is completely locked down at the moment and there’s a huge police presence.

“We have entered negotiations with the refinery and we’ve successfully stopped any exports leaving the site.

“We are going to continue our protest overnight and have warned Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons that we have farmers ready to blockade their depots if they don’t come on board.

“We are taking it to the next level now and are escalating our efforts.”

By 5pm on Sunday the protesters – roughly 700 on foot and about 300 vehicles according to Mr Charlesworth – were waiting for negotiations to open with Shell UK but he said they would not give up without a fight.

He added: “There’s a real cross section of supporters which is great.

“And they’ve come from as far afield as Shrewsbury and Oswestry to Liverpool and Manchester. It’s great to see how much support we’ve got.”

The go-slow, which saw hauliers, farmers, motorcyclists and taxi firms from across Flintshire, Wrexham and Chester, started in Llandudno and travelled down the A55 towards Deeside and a further convoy from Shrewsbury headed along the A5 through Oswestry, Chirk and Wrexham before meeting and heading towards Stanlow where protesters from Manchester and Liverpool joined the crowd.