Just Stop Oil eco zealot protests have cost Essex police £1m says senior officer as he calls on fuel firms to bring in private security while forecourts start to close after running dry
- Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet said its put a ‘real strain’ on the force
- Essex police have had to deploy hundreds of officers to remove protesters
- Just Stop Oil protestors glued themselves to tanks at Chafford Hundred, West Thurrock and the Purfleet Fuels Terminals
- Around 268 protestors have been arrested by Essex Police alone since April 1
- Police are in the process of 65 additional arrests after more protesters came
- Drivers also reported reporting shortages of fuel at stations across the country
Eco zealot protests by Just Stop Oil have cost Essex police £1m, a senior officer has said, as he calls on fuel firms to bring in private security while forecourts start to close after running dry.
Hundreds of officers who would normally be doing other police work were forced to combat the protests in Thurrock as the force has said it is under ‘real strain’.
Petrol stations have also been forced to close after running out of fuel as the environmental group glued themselves to roads and blocked delivery tankers from leaving ports.
The force said that to date, policing protests in Thurrock had cost Essex Police ‘in excess of £1 million’.
A senior Essex Police officer has called for fuel companies to consider using private security to help officers ‘deal with these incidents quicker’ as the force has arrested more than 300 people in connection with the week-long actions.
While a spokesperson for the environmental activists claimed they had disrupted 54 per cent of fuel supply.
Queues of cars and vans have also been reported at garages across the country as the disruption begins to cripple supply.
Activists from the Just Stop Oil environmental group attempt to block traffic in Thurrock on Wedneday morning
The eco protesters have been using tactics including attaching themselves to fuel tankers with glue and bike locks. Pictured: People block a road leading to the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire on April 5, with one gluing their hand to the tarmac
Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet said Essex Police is working closely with fuel distribution companies and strongly encouraging them to reinforce their security plans at each site.
He said the ‘commitment’ of officers ‘has allowed us to maintain a 24/7 presence in the area throughout the last week’.
‘This has not eliminated the disruption but has kept it to a minimum,’ he said. ‘Fuel transportation has continued and there is no need for any panic buying.
‘This has put a real strain on the force.
‘One of the things I’m focused on is what more the fuel companies can do to protect their infrastructure, perhaps using private security.
‘If those measures are put in place, policing can deal with these incidents quicker and further reduce the disruption being caused.
‘We know the people of Essex would prefer officers to be able to focus on the job of stopping crime and arresting criminals and to be perfectly honest, so do I.
‘To be clear, we are not in any way anti-protest; there is a right to protest but there is no right to commit crime.’
Officers have made 270 arrests in connection with the protests since they began last Friday.
Overnight, police made two further arrests in the Thurrock district.
A further group of protesters arrived in London Road in Purfleet today and police are in the process of making 65 additional arrests.
Fire crews have also been standing by round-the-clock to help in the removal of the protesters.
Since April 1, the coalition of activists have attempted to cause havoc in major UK cities and at vital infrastructure to demand the Government stops new oil and gas projects. Pictured: Activists are removed from an Asda fuel tanker at the Navigator oil storage terminal in Thurrock, Essex on Wednesday
Queues of cars and vans have been reported at petrol stations across the country as Just Stop Oil eco-zealots glue themselves to roads and block delivery tankers from leaving ports. Pictured: A busy garage at Sheerness, Kent earlier today
Some petrol stations have been forced to close after running out of fuel. The delivery of diesel appears to have been hampered the most by protestors at oil terminals in southern England and the Midlands. Pictured: A sign reads ‘No Fuel’ with a sad face drawn at a Sainsbury’s petrol station in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham
Delivery of diesel appears to have been hampered the most, while several of the ports most affected are in Essex where protestors have been attaching themselves to fuel tankers with bike locks.
Some petrol stations in Cambridge and Leicestershire are reported to have closed this afternoon after running out of fuel when scheduled deliveries failed to turn up.
It has left drivers – already feeling the pinch from the eye-watering rise in fuel prices – struggling to fill up at some garages.
Angry driver Liz Williams tweeted: ‘What’s going on with fuel supply? Asda petrol station in Portsmouth shut, Morrisons in Horndean no unleaded and a huge queue.’
Another motorist in Leicestershire said: ‘I was eventually able to get some diesel at Esso out the outer ring road near to Tesco but my car was pretty empty. It went into limp-home mode and there was hardly any power. I’ve never experienced that before.’
A third said they have been to four petrol stations in East Anglia recently but none had any diesel.
Industry representatives have stressed that there is no issue with the supply of oil, and that it is all down to disruption to deliveries.
And a source at one major petrol station operator told MailOnline: ‘[The protests] are affecting every retailer in the country.
‘We have no issue at all with supply, but we’re having to get fuel deliveries from terminals elsewhere in the UK that haven’t been affected by this huge disruption.’
It comes after oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading to higher wholesale costs for fuel retailers with motorists seeing sky-high surges at the pumps.
Queues of cars and vans have been reported at fuel pumps from Portsmouth to Cambridge, while others have been forced to close after running dry amid disruption to deliveries by protest group Just Stop Oil. Pictured: A petrol forecourt in Cambridge yesterday
Angry driver Liz Williams tweeted: ‘What’s going on with fuel supply? Asda petrol station is Portsmouth shut, Morrisons in Horndean no unleaded and a huge queue’
Activists from Just Stop Oil during one of their blockades at the Esso Birmingham Fuel Terminal on April 1, the first day of protest action at fuel terminals
Eco-fanatic groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion teamed up to blockade key terminals leaving tanker drivers unable to deliver fuel to station depots.
Since April 1, Just Stop Oil have attempted to cause chaos at fuel terminals across the country.
The protests however are exacerbating existing supply issues due to increased demand post-Covid lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It comes as working Britons face a hike in National Insurance, and soaring food and energy prices as Boris Johnson admitted families face ‘tough times’ and will have to ‘choose’ where to cut back spending.
And from Saturday, the group are planning new ‘rebellions’ which will start at London’s Hyde Park and then spread throughout the capital – saying that they will be ‘impossible to ignore’.
‘We are getting a lot of reports to us and on social media of fuel shortages across the country,’ they told MailOnline.
A source at one major petrol station operator told MailOnline: ‘[The protests] are affecting every retailer in the country. ‘We have no issue at all with supply, but we’re having to get fuel deliveries from terminals elsewhere in the UK that haven’t been affected by this huge disruption’
It comes as eco-fanatic groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion teamed up to blockade key terminals leaving tanker drivers unable to deliver fuel to station depots. Pictured: Police stand beside a tanker with Just Stop Oil protestors standing on top
Brent crude oil hit a multi-year high of $128 in early March – up from lows of $19 seen at the peak of the pandemic
When asked about the chaos caused by the group’s protests, the spokesperson said they felt ‘no choice but to act’ to pressure the government into cutting off Britain’s reliance on fuel.
‘The Government can end the misery of empty filling stations immediately by making a statement to end new oil and gas,’ they said.
Despite this, government statistics on road fuel stock levels
Several of the ports most affected are in Essex where people have been attaching themselves to fuel tankers with glue and bike locks.
XR activists shut down Tower Bridge
Extinction Rebellion protesters have shut down Tower Bridge by abseiling off the sides of the London landmark.
Two activists are hanging from the bridge by suspension cords and have unfurled a huge banner that reads: ‘End fossil fuels now.’
The bridge, a main traffic artery across the Thames, is closed to vehicles, causing long queues.
The pair hung the banner at 7am on Friday and also released red flares.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the bridge at 7.30am and no arrests have been made.
Extinction Rebellion said: ‘The action has taken place at the gateway to the City of London – the root source of fossil fuel funding in the UK – and on the eve of the April Rebellion which begins tomorrow at 10am in Hyde Park.’
Amy Rugg-Easey, who is taking part in the demonstration, said: ‘I ask myself why I do these things all the time, and the main thing that drives me is that I have tremendous hope and optimism in humanity’s ability to fight the climate crisis – but there are certain people who continue to prevent that for their own profit.
Chafford Hundred, West Thurrock and the Purfleet Fuels Terminals are among the 10 ‘critical’ sites that have been blocked across the country
The operation has cost more than £1 million since last Friday, according to Essex’s Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, and more protestors have continued to arrive.
A week on, 268 people have now been arrested by Essex Police alone.
Seven of the ten protests were carried out by Just Stop Oil at Navigator Terminals Thames, Inter Terminals UK and Purfleet Fuels Terminal all in Grays; Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire; Esso Petroleum in Tyburn, Birmingham; and Kingsbury Oil Terminal and BP Oil Depot, both in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
The further three were organised by Extinction Rebellion demonstrators at the Esso West Terminal near London Heathrow Airport, Hamble Terminals in Southampton and Hythe Terminal in Fawley, Hampshire.
In a tweet by Extinction Rebellion’s Cambridge branch the group shared photos of fuel ‘running dry across Cambridge’.
‘@JustStop_Oil and @XRebellionUK are blockading oil terminals across the UK.
‘Shown here are petrol stations in Sainsbury’s Coldhams Lane, Tesco Fulbourn, and BP Elizabeth Way and Cherry Hinton.’
The Petrol Retailers Association said: ‘We are aware of protests at a number of fuel supply sites; however the majority of terminals are currently unaffected.
‘PRA has not had any members contacting regarding supply issues. Some fuel suppliers are having to reschedule deliveries and our members are working closely with them and following their advice.’ Fuel prices have risen to record highs in recent weeks, with some garages and forecourts charging more than £2/litre for diesel at one point.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak tried to mitigate the effects of price rises as he last month begged petrol stations to pass on a 5p fuel duty cut at the pumps that he delivered in his Spring Statement.
Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco were among the major supermarkets to confirm they would pass on the cut in prices, with a 6p decrease in petrol and diesel.
This however represents only a fraction in the price rises seen since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February.
The 5p cut in fuel duty was blasted by UK motoring groups as a ‘drop in the ocean’ for hard-pressed drivers as pump prices continue to hit record levels.
From this weekend it is believed the groups’ focus will shift towards ‘mass daily protests’ in London to be led by Extinction Rebellion activists.
The campaign group, also known as XR, will hold its latest ‘rebellions’ from April 9 starting at Hyde Park and then spreading throughout the capital.
Protests are also planned in Birmingham and Southampton and ‘non-violent direct action training’ will be given.
XR spokesman Andrew Smith said: ‘From Saturday April 9 we will meet at 10am in Hyde Park every day. We will be easy to find, we will be easy to join, we will be more disruptive than ever, and we will be impossible to ignore.
Just Stop Oil activists take part in a protest outside the Esso Birmingham fuel terminal on the first day of protests at 10 oil terminals across the country
‘We’re expecting huge numbers from the 9th. In London we won’t have pink boats, we won’t have pink tables, we will just have people power.
‘In the tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, we will disrupt business as usual until the Government and big business make change. We need everyone to join us.’
He continued: ‘We’re looking at more mass participation-style events, rather than small kind of scattergun actions which rebellions have previously consisted of. We’re looking at mass participation, which are easy to join.
‘We’re asking the public to step up and join us. We know at the moment that across the country, people are feeling kind of disenfranchised with how they’ve been treated by the Government.
‘The energy crisis is really starting to hit home on people, and people really want us to step up into a space where their voice is heard.
‘We’re offering them the space where they can come and participate and join with us. Every morning we’ll be offering non-violent direct action training, where we will encourage people to step up and be empowered to take action with us and speak out against Government inaction. As a response to that, the actions will feel and look very different to previous rebellions.
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