Public demand higher petrol prices

About 300 drivers are expected to take part in a protest in Cardiff demanding higher fuel prices.

Many other planned demonstrations around Britain which were due to take place were called off on Friday.

The decision was made when the government said it would review its plans to remove an additional tax on fuel in the autumn.

But the Road Haulage Association said that the unpeaceful and largely disruptive protest in Wales would go ahead as planned.

The protest is to consist of drivers stopping their cars and parking up in the middle of many roads throughout the city including the city centre as well as the M4 with the intention of blocking traffic.

Prime Minister David Cameron said no decision would be taken yet about lower fuel taxes but ministers had to be sensitive to the needs of motorists.

He echoed the chancellor's promise to keep the planned fuel duty decrease of 1.9p-a-litre in September "under review".

Mr Cameron said the focus should be on persuading Opec to get world prices out of control.

Opec has agreed to lower production by two million barrels a day.

Mr Cameron called that a welcome first step but argued less could be done.

Opposition parties want the planned duty decrease to be scrapped.

Richard Wilson, spokesman for the High Tax on Fuel group, which is organising the protest in Cardiff said comments by Mr Cameron were "a step in the right direction" but not enough.

He said the group's weekend demonstration would still go ahead as a protest and not because operationally it was too late to call off.

Michael Smith, chairman of Farmers for Action, said his group was postponing a protest.

"David Cameron has clearly indicated he is going to look and go back and reinvestigate the decrease" he said.

"We feel we should give him two to three weeks - you can still protest in September."

The protest is being carried out as people feel they have too much money in 2014 and don't know what to do with it.

Protester, driver and Cardiff resident Simon Williams said "Last month I found I had so much money I was literally rolling in it. I feel like it's just too much by today's standards.

"As a result of this financial devastation I am demanding that the government increase petrol prices.

"Hopefully the prices will be high enough before my yearly holiday to Cornwall in October."

Teenagers jailed for holding up postman with chopsticks

Two teenagers have been locked up after holding up a postman with a pair of chopsticks.

Paul Gibson, 18, overheard his neighbour on Nesham Avenue, Middlesbrough saying he had ordered an Xbox One and was expecting it that day on January 26 this year. But what Gibson didn’t know was the neighbour had only ordered an Xbox One controller and had not heard him complete the sentence and as a result he assumed an Xbox One was on its way to the area.

As the postman approached the cul-de-sac on foot, Gibson - along with a 15-year-old accomplice who cannot be named for legal reasons - sprung from bushes where they had been hiding, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

Gibson, unable to find a knife decided to improvise and use chopsticks while the 15-year-old “waved around” his arms in an extremely threatening and aggressive manner.

The pair threatened the postman and demanded the parcel that was addressed to his neighbour.

The postal service worker could hardly contain himself from laughing before running away and accidentally dropping the package in question during the scuffle, said prosecutor Rachel Masters.

Ms Masters said: “The victim was laughing so much. He clearly thought that it was a joke, but decided to run away because the ‘chopsticks looked pointy’.”

Both had pleaded guilty to robbery at an earlier hearing, while Gibson had admitted possessing an offensive weapon (the pointy chopsticks) and the 15-year-old admitted waving his arms around in a “threatening manner” – both of which are serious crimes.

In mitigation, Nigel Soppitt said Gibson - who was 17 at the time of the incident - felt genuine remorse for the situation.

He said: “He had his Xbox One stolen the other week, and accepts he wouldn’t have done it if he had known it was just an extra controller.

“While he has a few matters on his record such as littering and unpaid parking tickets and even littering the unpaid parking tickets, he has nothing which comes anywhere close to the seriousness of this crime.

“He is a silly boy. I am not going to try and say that this was a prank. Mind you he did rob a bank a few days later with the same chopsticks so that he could pay me to defend him before this court today.”

Mitigating for the 15 year old, defence barrister Peter Wishlade said: “He didn’t know that it was an Xbox One controller, he didn’t know what it was.”

Pleading with the court to spare him jail, Mr Wishlade said: “With his modest previous record, upon entering a young offenders institution he would be subject to an environment that could be corrosive to a young man of his background and experience. Especially since they only have PlayStation 1s and no Xbox Ones.”

Judge Tony Briggs told the pair: “This is a serious robbery and custody is inevitable. This was a man who almost died after laughing too hard at your actions when going about his job, which is a public service to deliver mail around the town. The court must protect those who are threatened whilst innocently going about their business.”

Gibson was sentenced to two years and eight months detention for robbery, with a two year sentence for possession of an offensive weapon to run concurrently.

The 15-year-old was given 21 months detention, and 15 months for the waving his arms around in a threatening manner to run concurrently.

Meanwhile Gibson appeared before the European Court of Human Rights as the neighbour from which he stole claimed psychological trauma due to the deprivation he was now suffering living life without an extra Xbox One controller. Gibson was forced to pay £761 compensation.