THE man who led the fuel protests at Ellesmere Port which almost brought the UK to a standstill 10 years ago last night insisted he had “no regrets.”.

It was September, 2000, when farmer Brynle Williams reluctantly agreed to chair a protest meeting which was unwittingly to propel him into a maelstrom of national notoriety – and take Britain to the brink of chaos.

Within days, the then 50-year-old was holding “top secret” meetings with government ministers, and fearing for the safety of his family as a blockade took effect at Ellesmere Port’s Stanlow Oil Refinery.

Petrol stations ran out of fuel and long queues developed at service stations on Merseyside and around the UK.

Farmers and hauliers were looking to take their mounting frustrations over rising fuel prices to the next level.

It was feared that petrol could rise to 87p a litre, taking the cost past the psychological £4- a-gallon mark. Today it stands at around £1.15 a litre.

Mr Williams, now 60, and a Conservative AM for North Wales, remembers having to be persuaded to chair the public meeting at St Asaph livestock market.

“It’s still very vivid in my mind,” he said.

Disgruntled farmers and truckers discussed a range of possible actions to try to force the Government to reduce fuel duty which accounted for 81.5% of the total cost of unleaded petrol.

Then one voice spoke out: “Why don’t you close the refinery down in Stanlow?”