ANIMAL rights activists took to the roof of a York petrol station in a protest against animal testing.

The small group of protesters were made up of members of SHAC - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.

They claim that oil giant Shell pays for "cruel" animal experiments at the Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratory, and so climbed onto the roof of the Hull Road filling station to make their point.

Earlier in the day, they held a demonstration outside Shell's fuel depot on Dunnington Industrial Estate.

The protests ran alongside numerous others at Shell facilities across the UK, all organised by SHAC.

At Hull Road, spokeswoman for the protesters Jenny Ward described the rooftop protest as "spontaneous".

She said: "We were always going to come here but getting on the roof was a spur of the moment thing.

"It is a good way of getting the point over that Shell pay for these cruel tests.

"Their customers have a right to know that - then hopefully they will get their petrol from another garage."

The demo had the opposite effect on York motorist Richard Rookes, though.

He said: "I wasn't going to get any petrol, but I have stopped here because of them. I don't agree with people standing outside someone's business telling them what to do."

A soldier from York's Imphal Barracks, who asked not to be named, was also unimpressed.

"This lot want to get back to school. There are enough problems in the world already," he said.

York Police Inspector Ken Gill, called to the protest, said: "They have the right to protest, as people here have the right to go about their lawful business.''

A Shell spokeswoman said the company only test on animals when no other methods are available - and when there is a legal requirement, for safety reasons.

And she said that the company have only used HLS five times in the last two years.

"We actively support efforts to find alternatives to animal testing, which is an issue we take very seriously.

"But we must balance the issue with the need to ensure our products confirm to all necessary legal requirements," the spokeswoman added.

The protest ended peacefully after about an hour when the activists climbed down. No arrests were made.

Updated: 09:11 Friday, September 21, 2001