CAMPAIGN AGAINST TOP OIL - AKA KELLY FUELS

Awareness may be growing of the link between Tedcastle Oil Products (TOP Oil) and the refuelling of U.S. military aircraft at Shannon airport. Already this year a variety of different groups have applied direct action tactics at some of the many Top Oil petrol stations that litter the highways and byways of the south. This has not only attested to the success of direct action tactics in general, but has also provided activists with the confidence needed for further campaigns. By giving us all a sense of participation in the anti-war effort at a local level, it has helped remove the feeling of powerlessness that sometimes overwhelms us when we realise just how much the odds are stacked against us.

But what can activists in the north do to help out in the continuing struggle against Top Oil? After all, Top Oil does not have petrol stations north of the border. Well, for a start, they may wish to focus their attention on Kelly Oil, a subsidiary of Top Oil in the north. But who are Kelly Oil? Time for a bit of history.

Kelly Oil takes its name from Kelly Shipping which from the mid-1880s transported coal and grocery items from Belfast throughout the ports of the British Isles and the rest of Europe. Indeed, the term “Kelly’s Coal Boats” became part of language in coastal towns throughout the country, the ships serving with distinction during two world wars.

However the firm, mindful of changing trends in the domestic heating market with more and ever more homes using oil as their primary source of heat, entered the oil fuel business in the early 1980s. The first road tanker was acquired in 1983 and soon the name Kelly Oil became familiar in Belfast and North Down. Steady growth followed with the oil business being introduced to other coal depots until Kelly Fuels became one of the largest oil distributors in the province. In 1993 Kelly's merged with Lanes Group Limited, another significant player in the oil and solid fuel markets. The merged entity continued to trade under “Kelly Fuels” and is now the biggest player in N. Ireland. In 1997 the acquisition of Bruce Lindsay Coal, based in Edinburgh and the Highlands of Scotland made Kelly Fuels the second largest solid fuel distributor in the U.K. The end of 1999 saw another acquisition in Scotland and three more in Northern Ireland. This growth was to continue into the new millennium.

Kelly Oil has offices throughout the north. The head office of Kelly Fuels is at:
1 Lombard Street, Belfast, BT1 1BN. Their website is: www.kellyfuels.co.uk

The company also has local sales offices in Belfast (028 90771221), Derry (028 71360330), Coleraine (028 7034 2283), Ballymena (028 2564 9811), Larne (028 2826 0222) and Portadown (028 3835 0360). So get in contact, register your anger, or organise a protest at an office near you!

Another potentially more useful tactic may be to nip across the border to Omeath, Co. Louth. Every week thousands of northern motorists use the Top Oil station there to fill up with cheaper petrol and diesel. Omeath is a small village. Nothing much happens there. But it could provide the catalyst to kick start the campaign in the north, and give southern activists an opportunity to create further pressure in the south.

For further information contact:  organiseireland@yahoo.ie