LONDON BRIEFING:CENTRAL LONDON will be brought to a halt again today as hundreds of lorry drivers converge on the capital in their latest protest over fuel prices.

The truckers can't do much about the global oil price but they are stepping up their very vocal campaign against the duty imposed on fuel by the British government.

The tax-take per litre in Britain is almost twice that of the European average, and the Road Haulage Association, which is backing today's protest, warns that scores of firms will be forced out of business unless something is done soon.

Aside from its devastating impact on the industry's finances, there have also been some tragic consequences of the soaring cost of fuel - last week a farmer's wife collapsed and died, and her son was badly injured, after thieves staged a midnight raid on a diesel pump at a farm in county Durham.

While there will be some irritation at the massive disruption caused as the slow-moving convoy of lorries makes its way to Westminster, there is a good deal of sympathy for the industry. Ordinary motorists are being hit hard by the record petrol prices and also want action, including the scrapping of the threatened 2p increase in duty scheduled for October. There have also been calls from consumer organisations for a fuel-price regulator to be established to protect motorists' interests.

Chancellor Alistair Darling, who is becoming accustomed to performing U-turns, is said to be coming under increasing pressure from his fellow cabinet ministers to appease hauliers and motorists with an immediate pledge to freeze duty. The increase has already been shelved from April, a move which cost the government £550 million.

As well as pushing up inflation, knock-on effects of the forecourt price rises are now being felt in the motor trade - Britain's biggest car dealer, Pendragon, has reported a near-10 per cent fall in the number of new cars sold to the public in recent weeks and added its voice to the calls for government action.

As the truckers prepared to take their biggest fuel-price protest yet to the streets, the heads of some of the world's most powerful oil companies were gathered in Madrid earlier this week for the World Petroleum Congress. With crude oil prices heading for $150 a barrel, further increasing the pressure on pump prices, the oil chiefs insisted that the key problem remains lack of supply rather than, as the Opec cartel claims, the actions of speculators.

Once again, tax was highlighted as a major problem. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said investment in exploration and production was being stifled by governments grabbing a growing share of oil and gas revenues, as well as restrictions on investment.

Talk of a speculative bubble being behind the oil price surge was, he said, a myth.

Myth or not, motorists may soon be facing bills of up to £70 to fill their tanks, and even more if they run on diesel. The AA motoring organisation has just wheeled out survey results showing that almost half its members believe the government bears most responsibility for the petrol price rises - and that two-thirds would vote for a different government if they continue to rise.

*****

With household budgets under increasing pressure, it is hardly surprising that savings have slumped in recent months. But the dramatic decline in Britain's savings ratio - the proportion of income that people put aside in savings, pensions and investments - has alarmed economists and is likely to prolong what is already expected to be a lengthy slowdown in consumer spending.

In the first quarter of this year, Britons set aside just 1.1 per cent of their income in savings, the lowest level since 1959 - the year Ben-Hur swept the Oscars, the first Mini went on sale, Ian Fleming's Goldfinger was published and Harold Macmillan was in Number 10.

The figure compares with a peak of over 12 per cent in 1980.

It means consumers are dipping into savings to keep themselves afloat in the face of falling house prices, higher mortgage payments, rising food prices and increased fuel and utility bills.

Thus millions of households are setting aside virtually nothing for a rainy day. When their depleted savings run out, as they eventually must, the financial storm will be hard to withstand.

Fiona Walsh writes for the Guardiannewspaper in London