Cambridge University student Just Stop Oil protester delayed 4,000 plane passengers by scaling a gantry above the M25 near Heathrow, court hears
- Cressida Gethin, 22, scaled a gantry on the M25 near Heathrow in July 2022
A Just Stop Oil[2] protester from Cambridge University[3] delayed 4,000 British Airways[4] passengers by scaling a gantry above the M25 near Heathrow, a court heard.
Music student Cressida Gethin, 22, staged the protest on July 20, 2022 – a day after the UK recorded a temperature of above 40C for the first time.
In a statement read out to Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday, senior manager at British Airways, Edwin Hall, said 3,923 customers were affected by delays and cancellations due to the protest.
Broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Packham, 62, said he had been stuck in the traffic for four to five hours during a trip from Hampshire to Surrey, where he was working on a BBC[5] programme.
He told jurors he came to ‘sympathise’ with the fact he was forced to think about climate change[6] while he waited.
A Just Stop Oil protester from Cambridge University delayed 4,000 British Airways passengers by scaling a gantry above the M25 near Heathrow, a court heard
Broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Packham, 62, said he had been stuck in the traffic for four to five hours during a trip from Hampshire to Surrey
Specialist police climbers prepare to remove a protester after they climbed an overhead motorway gantry on the M25 causing both carriageways to be closed by police
The protest was staged on July 20, 2022 – a day after the UK recorded a temperature of above 40C for the first time
Gethin, who has taken two years out of her university studies, said during the trial that she aimed to ‘interrupt business as usual’ and draw media attention to the ‘dire situation’ represented by the temperature in Britain.
That day, news of the protest aired on Good Morning Britain before she had scaled the gantry, she said.
The defendant added that she did not realise she was so close to Heathrow and did not choose the location.
Reading her closing statement, Gethin told the jury: ‘You must use your judgement as human beings, who are aware of the context in which this action was taken – the deadly 40C heatwave, thousands of people dying of heatstroke.
‘If your house had just burnt down, would four hours in traffic feel serious in comparison?
In a statement read out to Isleworth Crown Court, senior manager at British Airways, Edwin Hall, said 3,923 customers were affected by delays and cancellations due to the protest
The defendant added that she did not realise she was so close to Heathrow and did not choose the location
‘If you were a climate refugee, forced out of your home country by heat, drought and social conflict, would missing a flight feel serious in comparison?
‘In a vacuum, you could reasonably assume that someone stuck in a four hour traffic jam would be feeling very annoyed.
‘But we are not in a vacuum – no one here can disagree that the climate crisis we’re in is dire; billions of refugees, starvation, mass suffering and death – this is coming to us all.
‘There may well have been more people in the traffic jams who felt like Chris Packham – we heard from Mr Packham that he did not feel seriously annoyed when stuck in the traffic.’
Prosecutor Neil Griffin told the court that Gethin refused to come down despite police requests to do so and warnings she was causing disruption.
He said: ‘What she did prevented thousands of people from being able to freely use the M25 and the surrounding roads.
‘It’s not for one individual to say I believe in this so I’m going to stop you from using this motorway, I’m going to make your life miserable for hours and hours and hours.’
Gethin has been accused of one count of causing a public nuisance contrary to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
She does not dispute scaling the gantry but denies that it amounts to the charge.
The trial continues.
References
- ^ Olivia Christie (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Just Stop Oil (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridge University (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ British Airways (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ BBC (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ climate change (www.dailymail.co.uk)