Garages reported a mixed result in yesterday's 'dump the pump' campaign in Oxfordshire.

Some said sales were down by 50 per cent, while others said business boomed.

David Thompson, manager at Oxpens Service Station, Oxford, said: "It's been an absolutely brilliant day. At 1pm we had sold as much as we normally do during the whole day.

"I haven't a clue why it's happened. I read in the Oxford Mail how the Q8 garage in Cowley Road had seen custom fall well, all the drivers must be coming to me instead."

Mr Thompson said a drop in prices which took effect yesterday could be the reason why sales at his station soared.

But others did not fare so well. At the Shell garage in London Road, Headington, business was slow, as it was at the Save Service Station in Woodstock Road, Yarnton, where business was said to be 50 per cent down. But manager Nalliah Thaya said the day before the boycott business was busier than usual, with 8,000 litres of petrol sold, compared with a normal figure of about 5,000.

Yvonne Hamilton, of BP on Banbury Road, Bicester, said very few people had actively supported the campaign.

She said: "What people are saying is that it doesn't matter whether they fill up today or the next day. The Government will still get its money."

Pip Thompson, supervisor at the Bicester Services on Oxford Road, said trade was very slightly down. "It looks like a pretty normal day," she said.

Jenna Eastlake, of Steventon Service Station, Steventon, said: "It has been dead here all morning, so the boycott has definitely affected us." Manager at Milton Heights Service Station in Sutton Courtenay, Mel Brooks, added: "We definitely haven't been as busy today as normal."