Fuel protesters today dropped plans to take a go-slow convoy through the centre of York.

Their decision comes hours after North Yorkshire Police banned them from coming near the city anyway.

The police won a court injunction banning them from entering the flood-hit city centre.

But hauliers said today their decision was taken "for the people of York" already hit by floods and not because of the police ban.

North Yorkshire Police won the court injunction under the Public Order Act to keep the protest convoy on dual carriageways on its route through the county.

The convoy of up to 40 vehicles is to leave the North East tomorrow and arrive in London on Monday to protest against Chancellor Gordon Brown's refusal to slash fuel tax in his pre-Budget statement.

But Tockwith-based haulier Tony Adams told the Evening Press that the convoy would not come anywhere near York and would probably not come any nearer than the A1.

He said: "We think that the reaction of slapping an injunction on us is being a bit militant.

"We have agreed not to go anywhere near York. But that's for the people of York, not for the police. The people of York don't need this now."

The original plan was for the convoy to stay overnight on Friday at the York Livestock Centre, at Murton, before heading back to the A1.

That plan has now been scrapped and hauliers are expecting police to come up with an alternative overnight stopping place in the A1 area.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed today that the injunction had been granted, but refused to reveal when it had been sought.

It is understood to have been taken out in the name of Peter Walker, the Deputy Chief Constable of North Yorkshire, under the Public Order Act.

The People's Fuel Lobby said the protest was still "definitely on", despite some concessions from Chancellor Gordon Brown in his pre-Budget statement.

John Pratt, of Farmers for Action, said that the injunction "smacked of a police state".

He said: "We didn't want to actually go into York. We know there's a problem there.

"I don't know why the police want to issue an injunction. The best thing they could have done was to come and talk to us."

Meanwhile, the Chancellor's pre-Budget statement promising cuts in green fuel duty and road tax was described as a "start" in North Yorkshire today.

Mr Adams said: "The speculation is that it's going to give a five or six pence per litre rebate. It's a start but the prices do want to come down more."

But Pocklington-based pig farmer Matthew Atkin, chairman of the British Pig Industry Support Group, said price cuts were needed now, not sometime in the future.

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