GETTING into the Blue Jewel was no mean feat. Even with the aid of a handle the steps to the cab were an awkward scramble with dignity left far behind. Getting into the convoy, dubbed the modern day Jarrow Crusade, proved easy by comparison, even with a 45ft trailer.

Paddy Gallacher's truck was one of about 100 vehicles, including tractors, vans and cars, which made the short but slow journey from the Birtley truck stop, off the A1 near Gateshead, into Newcastle and back again.

But by the time the convoy was ready to head south on the first stage of its trek to London, the numbers had dwindled to about 40, with Paddy among the survivors.

"I wanted to show that I'm in support of what they're doing," he says. "I want to show that I'm doing something towards it."

Trucking is in Paddy's blood. Right from the age of four or five, he used to ride in the cab with his dad, travelling around the country, staying overnight in digs. For the past 30 years he has had his own company, building up from one lorry, named Elizabeth I after his mother, to 50 , employing about 70 people in a business run from Stanley, County Durham, with his younger brother Michael.

He gives each truck its own name but admits to running low on inspiration when it came to Blue Jewel. "You run out of names at times. Blue is the colour of the wagons and it has got to be short - there is not enough space on the front for a decent name."

A quietly-spoken grandfather who spends his weekends playing golf and clay pigeon shooting, he is an unlikely protester. But the last few years have seen the haulage industry go through its leanest period in living memory, with the high cost of fuel sending many companies to the wall.

If things hadn't been so tight he would have sent one of his drivers on the demonstration, but decided to take part himself to save cash, as well as get behind the wheel again.

"If I had my way I would go back on the road myself. It gets in your blood and I love being in the wagons themselves," he says. "I take the slightest excuse to get out and if I'm in the office and there is a job locally I will do it."

By 8am at Birtley, just an hour before the estimated time of departure, journalists out-numbered truckers by about ten to one. Most of the activity came from the Greenpeace brigade, who had arrived in a lorry driven by flower power, or at least oil seed rape, and were trying to convince truckers of the benefits of putting up fuel taxes.

Campaigner Rob Gueterbock claimed the drivers had been receptive to their arguments, although there were few signs of a rush to swap diesel for flowers.

Half an hour later the picture had improved, with a late rush of lorries and tractors pulling into the pot-holed truck stop, with a police helicopter and fixed wing aircraft overhead.

Truck driver Paul Stobbart from nearby Birtley had turned the protest into a family holiday, putting a caravan in the back of his lorry to make the four day trip comfortable for wife Lesley and daughter Samantha.

Lesley said: "I have got everything in there - water, food, duvets, sheets and towels."

The arrival of Andrew Spence, the man who came up with the idea of the convoy and became a hero to the fuel tax protesters after his arrest outside a Jarrow refinery, caused a flurry of interest.

The 33-year-old bankrupt farmer and haulier from Consett seemed keen to avoid the photographers and camera crews but when he gave his rousing speech it was mainly to reporters.

He told them: "Do not rise to any provocation whatsoever, anybody tries to start something, kick something off, come and see me. The police are here for one reason - to see our peaceful protest go straight down the Swannee."

But despite the frantic rushing around of the organisers, it took the police to prod the convoy into action. An officer said that traffic on the A1 had been stopped to allow the protestors to get on so they had better get moving, wagons started to roll.

The first stage of the protest could safely be called a success. A slow moving procession, about 10mph, wound its way through Low Fell and over the Tyne Bridge into Newcastle, causing significant disruption without bringing the city to a halt.

Most of the reaction from traffic and pedestrians was positive, flashing lights, hooting and applause, with the odd shaking of the head to indicate disapproval. It seemed the protest had managed to retain much of the support from September's fuel blockades, despite the Chancellor's concessions earlier in the week.

After crossing Redheugh Bridge and back through Low Fell the convoy returned to Birtley about two hours after setting off. And it was here that things started to go a little awry.

The remaining trucks, now down to about 40, were lined up with the drivers confidently expecting to be on their way south within minutes. An hour later they were still there, waiting for the arrival of a low loader to carry the tractors on the motorway. Apparently the original loader had broken down.

When it finally arrived and the tractors were loaded, at about 12.45pm, the convoy set off in two parts, the first made up of vehicles planning to go all the way, about a dozen trucks in all.

The second group was those intending to go part of the distance before turning back, about 25 in all, including eight or so driven by reporters following its progress, as well as Paddy and the Blue Jewel. Police had told the convoy organisers they would not tolerate slow moving convoys on the motorways, meaning the journey down the A1 went at 30-50mph.

And so the remaining vehicles became strung out along the inside lane. Not so much a convoy as a bit of extra traffic. While the organisers said their aim was never to cause disruption but to make a statement, passing vehicles could have been unaware there was a protest at all.

Some of the trucks peeled off at Durham and by the time Barton was reached, just south of Darlington, at about 2pm, and having long lost sight of most of the rest of the convoy, Paddy was ready to call it a day.

"I'm glad I came but personally I feel it wasn't a good turn out," he says. "But for somebody prepared to spend four days going down to London and spending all that money on fuel without earning anything takes a lot of doing."

Paddy had done his bit and with a wave at the watching police he swung the Blue Jewel around to head back north.