Protesters roared on Britain's main roads today with slow-moving vehicles demanding government action to tackle skyrocketing fuel prices.
The move comes as senior criminal lawyers stage a second strike in England and Wales against years of government cuts to their fees, adding to "summer dissatisfaction" as strikes sweep across the UK.
With headline inflation in the UK hitting a 40-year high of just under 10%, railway workers have gone through a series of stoppages in a bid for higher wages, partly because of the war in Ukraine.
On the road, a social media campaign called "Fuel PricesAgainst Taxes" mobilized drivers to drive deliberately slowly on motorways and other arterial roads, demanding that the government cut fuel taxes.
One of the motorways affected is the M4, including the Prince of Wales Bridge, which connects England and Wales.
Police in Wales said they had arrested 12 people who were travelling at speeds below 30mph (48km/h) for a "prolonged" period.
Vicky Stamper lost his job as a truck driver last month after the company was forced to cut costs in the face of soaring fuel costs.
"I'm here because I lost my job because of fuel and greedy people at the top took all our money," she told AFP at the England border.
"We're doing this for everyone," Stamper said in a statement to any members of the public who were inconvenienced by the operation.
"If they want to whine and not whine, join us."
'no choice'
The government insists it has cut a fuel tax and is providing other financial support to the public, while blaming Russia for fueling the rapid rise in energy prices.
"People's daily lives should not be disrupted," a spokesman said.
The government also said it was meeting the demands of criminal barristers by raising fees by 15 per cent from the end of September.
But the increase only applies to new cases, not the tens of thousands of cases that have been piling up in UK courts as they grapple with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Outside the Royal Court of Justice in central London, barristers in black robes and wigs insisted on a sharp increase in the government's offer as they walked out for the second week in a row and vowed more strikes.
Protesting barrister Emma Heath, 34, said defence lawyers could spend eight hours preparing clients for legal aid and the government was only paid £126 (RM675).
"We fully understand the impact it has had, but until the government wakes up and sees what's actually happening with criminal legal aid funding, we have no choice," she told AFP.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab (former lawyer) called the strike action "regrettable" and said it "only delays justice for victims".
