PROTESTERS carrying placards gathered outside a filling station and urged drivers to boycott the pumps.

Motorists visiting the Esso garage in King Street, Weymouth, and others queuing in traffic were handed leaflets by environmental campaigners and recommended to fill up with petrol at other garages.

The Stop Esso demonstration at the weekend was part of a national day of peaceful protest aimed at the fuel company by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the student campaign network People and Planet.

The organisations claim that Esso refuses to support any measures to tackle climate change and that it put pressure on the US Government to reject the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty which aims to stabilise carbon dioxide emissions, which harm the Earth's atmosphere.

South Dorset Friends of the Earth chairman Matt Pullman says Esso should be taking action to tackle climate change by investing in renewable technologies.

He added: "Although not many drivers were seen to boycott the pumps we made many people think again for the next time they fill up their car."

Esso rejects as 'absurd' the allegation that it put pressure on the US Government to reject the Kyoto protocol.

Company spokesman David Eglinton said Esso's environmental track record was among the best in the industry worldwide.

He said Esso took climate change very seriously and had led the petrol industry in providing cleaner, greener fuels to motorists.

Esso describes the Greenpeace-led action as a 'smear campaign.'