LANCASHIRE fuel protesters have threatened to 'cripple' businesses by staging two days of action every week this summer.

Hauliers said they had no choice but to protest unless the government reduced the cost of diesel and petrol.

The warning came in the wake of Saturday's go-slow protest on the M6 involving around 100 lorries.

Lancashire hauliers said they were now planning to put more pressure on the government through a summer of turmoil.

They are planning to park their vehicles up on road sides two days a week instead of delivering goods to businesses.

The threat came as one Lancashire garage boss said a separate four-day strike by Shell tanker drivers was in danger of causing some of the area's pumps to run dry.

But drivers were urged not to panic as supermarkets in the area said there were no problems with their supplies.

The weekend's protest saw traffic on the M6 motorway reduced to a crawl by the 100 angry lorry drivers and other motorists who took part in the go-slow protest.

The convoy set off at 9am under police escort from Lymm Services at Warrington, Cheshire, to Carnforth, 60 miles away in north Lancashire.

And Lee Bennett, the man who got Lancashire's hauliers to join the protest, said 2008 could be a summer of discontent in the UK.

Mr Bennett, of Hoghton, said: "There will be more protests if the Government doesn't listen.

"We will do this again in the next couple of weeks if we don't see a change in the price of diesel."

Having run Bamber Bridge-based Bennett Distribution for the past seven years, he said the growing cost of diesel was starting to cripple many businesses.

And he said he believed that public support was swinging in favour of the hauliers as unrest built against Gordon Brown and the Government.

He said: "There is a summer of action ahead of us.

"There are plans to park up every wagon for two days a week which will cripple the country because there will be nobody to transport essential goods.

"Normal drivers who use their cars every day were supporting us during the protest which was great. They were hanging banners from bridges and were supporting us.

"Hopefully it will make the Government think about the price of fuel.

"The price of fuel affects everyone that owns a vehicle, from us hauliers to the mums doing the school run."

Protest leader Tony Burridge, of Preston, said: "I am confident that if enough people take a stand the Government will realise that the rising cost of fuel is intolerable for ordinary working people and their families.

"Looking at the line up of vehicles and people who have turned out you can see that the high cost of fuel is hurting people in all walks of life."

The fuel protests coincided with a strike by Shell tanker drivers working out the Stanlow refinery in Cheshire.

The firm said around 15 per cent of its petrol stations had been disrupted by the walkout, coupled with a higher demand for fuel as drivers became nervy about a potential lack of fuel for their vehicles.