Fuel protester Andrew Spence cut a lonely figure outside a major oil refinery yesterday as the threatened nationwide demonstration turned into a damp squib.
In sharp contrast to five years ago when the County Durham farmer led a campaign which brought chaos to the roads, yesterday's protests remained small scale.
Mr Spence had called for a three-day protest to put pressure on the Government to cut fuel tax.
But only about 20 protesters - wearing boiler suits and rigger boots - turned up at the Shell distribution centre in Jarrow to stage a muted protest at soaring petrol costs. At one point demonstrators were outnumbered by members of the media. The scene was repeated across the UK.
A dozen people gathered at the entrance to an oil terminal in Purfleet, Essex, and at the Fawley oil refinery, in Hampshire a handful of protesters turned up, only to leave because of the lack of support.
Mr Spence had hoped a convoy of slow-moving lorries would show their solidarity and disrupt the flow of petrol to forecourts throughout the country. But at Jarrow a small police presence was enough to ensure it was business as usual for tankers.
Despite the disappointing turn-out Mr Spence insisted the protest had not been a failure and was always intended to be a peaceful demonstration.
He said: "We never said we were going to blockade the refineries. It is a peaceful protest marking five years since our original demonstrations. We are still no further forward and we still have the same taxation rates."
He added: "I doubt that the Government would have given us the 1.2p freeze in duty proposed for October. I like to think that we have achieved something this week."
But a spokeswoman for Shell said that the protest had failed to interrupt the distribution of fuel.
She added: "All our operations have been running normally with absolutely no interruption to sales. We have contingency plans in place, but customers can be reassured petrol stations will continue to have fuel."
Mr Spence was criticised for contributing to panic buying earlier in the week by scaring drivers into filling up their tanks.
Chairman of the Sunderland committee of the Chamber of Commerce Mick Thurlbeck said: "I don't agree with spreading panic like that.
"At the end of the day people want petrol and there's petrol out there.
"Andrew Spence is actually assisting the oil-producing nations and companies. They're selling much more of their product."
The UK Petroleum Industry Association, which represents oil giants Shell, BP, Esso and Total, said a week's worth of petrol was sold in only a day, but that prices could fall by as much as 4p a litre next week, as extra oil stocks enter the system.
In the days and hours leading up to the blockade of Shell's refinery hundreds of motorists drained petrol stations of all their supplies, fearful of a repeat of events in 2000.
Rural stations and those with the cheapest prices were particularly affected.
Willis's Garage in Alnwick ordered a delivery of 2,500 litres of petrol, but every drop was squeezed out within two days.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling yesterday said the Government had recognised the problem and already responded.
"We have not put the inflation increase through for the last couple of years," he said.
"Indeed, since 1999 fuel prices have come down both in real terms and cash terms, in terms of the duty.
