Fuel protest: Farmer leads 5mph slow drive convoy down A1

The fuel protest, which was organised by County Durham farmer Andrew Spence, saw the convoy travel through Gateshead and Newcastle at 5mph - slowing traffic on the A1 to a crawl.

They left Team Valley this morning and travelled onto the A1 into Newcastle city centre, over the Tyne Bridge into Low Fell, and finished at the Angel of the North.

Read more: Fuel protest sees farmer lead convoy on A1 in Newcastle

Here are some pictures of the protest from agency North News. 

Mr Spence, who has a farm in Leadgate, Consett, was behind a similar protest 20 years ago, which brought the city to a halt. 

He became a national figure in the fuel protests of 2000, which saw long queues as petrol stations ran dry and rolling road blocks on motorways as farmers and hauliers around the country unified and mobilised as part of direct action over rising prices.

"I'm going to give the same message out that I did 20 years ago. Fuel is too much, taxation is killing not just the industry but the country.

"If you look at the price of fuel now it's £1.59 country average, if you look at the taxation which is involved in that it's 62p to the pound, plus VAT, it just can't go on. It's not sustainable.

"And it's not just the fact that it's going up every week or month, it's going up every day and people can't budget for it, and at the end of the day if there's one thing that's happened this last week, we've made it a hot potato again."

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