Fuel protest: Sandyknowes protestor says pump price spike could cost him up to £15,000 this year

The News Letter saw and spoke to about eight people, mainly sheltering from the rain underneath one of the giant roundabout’s motorway overpasses.

There were no placards, and no convoy of vehicles.

A handful of police vehicles, including a Land Rover with a public order camera, observed the protest.

Only one protestor was willing to give his name and speak: James Sheridan, 59, of Newtownabbey.

He runs a landscaping business employing 12 people, and told the News Letter that the rise in fuel costs over the past six weeks could add something like £10,000 to £15,000 to his outgoings, “at least”.

He said “the fuel issue is one thing,” but that there are “other issues” too, such as taxes and the cost of employing staff.

“I reckon to do the same jobs that I did last year, I’d be earning £50,000 less,” he said.

"But there’s not £50,000 in profits!

"So in a sense I could be going bankrupt. I just haven’t probably calculated it yet.

"But that’s the way it’s panning out.

"You’re trying to run a small business and employ people, and I can’t see how it can continue to work.

"’[The fuel rises] are just another factor.

"On its own, people could probably cope with it, in a way – but maybe not the farmers and haulage companies.

“We’re struggling, and they’re finding it worse again.”

Another protestor who would not give his name cursed the “lazy” people who had not shown up to protest, while another said she refused to speak to the mainstream media because it had “done her over”.

Fifty yards away, an English man, standing alone in the rain, said he was there to protest, “but I’m not saying jack **** to reporters”.

Another man, who gave his name only as Brian, said he was an “eco technologist” who was concerned about our addiction to fossil fuels.

When this reporter introduced himself as a member of the press, he said: “You’re in danger of outnumbering the protestors.”