THREE Greenpeace volunteers who chained themselves to pumps at a Totton petrol station were yesterday fined £75 each with £69 costs by magistrates amid reports that oil giant Esso is considering a claim to cover its loss of business.

A fourth environmental protester at Totton was bound over to keep the peace for a year in the sum of £75 after New Forest magistrates heard that she was only chained to a pump for about ten minutes while her boyfriend went to the toilet.

Prosecutor Carl Anderson explained that the boyfriend, who was not named, asked Rebecca Minton, 21, of Southover Street, Hanover, Brighton, to take over. He added: "She agreed to do so, but it was not originally her plan to be chained to a pump.

"She was asked by the police if she had a key to unlock the chains. She said it was in her bra and in the circumstances, the police felt it would be far more appropriate to cut her free."

The three others who chained themselves to the pumps were Joseph Cox, 31, of Fernside Close, Millbrook, Southampton, Drummond Richardson, 32, of Brighton Road, Redhill, Surrey and Claire Insley, 34, of Ullswater, Great Hollands, Bracknell, Berkshire.

All pleaded guilty to obstructing a person engaged in a lawful activity - the sale of petrol and oil - by trespassing on the garage forecourt.

Mr Anderson had earlier explained that between ten and 12 people arrived at the Esso Service Station in Totton's Ringwood Road at around 8.45am on February 24 - a day when activists raided more than 100 Esso petrol stations..

Because he had been warned of the likely action, the manager locked his staff in the garage shop and stopped the flow of fuel to the pumps while some activists chained themselves to pumps, Mr Anderson told the bench.

Others, he said, bound the pumps with the kind of tape used by police to seal off particular areas and stopped motorists from driving on to the forecourt, with police finding a sign which said "Closed by Greenpeace" across the entrance when they arrived.

Defending solicitor Rhona Friedman explained that the defendants previously had unblemished records and took the action because of their "deeply-held beliefs" that war against Iraq was not the right step and that some of Esso's policies and processes supported war and went against environmental needs.

"The path they chose was one of non-violent disruptive action and it was taken because Esso and Exxon were main contributors to the Bush campaign and they continue to have a strong influence on the American administration.

Outside the court, Mr Cox said: "This is part of a campaign against a multi-national corporation that is prepared to exploit the environment and Greenpeace will be around to monitor them and let the people of Hampshire know what is going on."