AFTER causing offence in the North East by comparing themselves to the Jarrow Crusaders, the fuel protest lobby seem intent on alienating the people of North Yorkshire as well.

Any sympathy local people might have had with their cause must surely be dispelled by their ludicrous reaction to the police injunction banning their go-slow convoy from entering the city of York, and restricting them to dual carriageways.

Claims by protest ringleaders such as John Pratt that the decision "smacks of a police state" are insensitive and ignorant.

The flooding in the county means that emergency services and crisis control workers need to move about the area as rapidly as possible. The last thing they and the rest of us need at present is a lumbering convoy of juggernauts hampering relief efforts.

Whether or not people support their aims, the protesters should recognise that circumstances here mean that they are not welcome.

Sensible concessions have been made by the Government to improve their situation (although the Chancellor could have allocated more money to public transport). The protest ringleaders should now make similar concessions to the people of North Yorkshire, before they lose all popular support and any claim to credibility.

Greg Stone,

Parliamentary Spokesman,

Vale of York Liberal Democrats,

Herriot Way,

Thirsk.