The first timing was abandoned at Birmingham due to the Sainsburys depot being heavily policed. On our approach we found road blocks preventing us access to the road that would lead us to our target. There was some cat and mouse as the transport we were using tried to lose the cars following us and get organised with a new plan. The group of about 40 decided that there had been too much time and effort put into this action to abandon it just because the police were at the seen and spurred on by news that Bristol, Liverpool and others had been blocked or were in different states of conflict with the police we didn’t want to be left out.
A new plan was hatched and the only option that we could come up with was to block the approach road that led to Sainsburys. This had draw backs as a few other companies would be effected, we were aware that this would also block BMW, Nestle and a company making bulkheads for Landrovers that were heading to the Indonesian army (shame). However there were a few independent lorry drivers that were also affected and it was this that the activists took into account and decided to call time.
Two tripods were used to block one side of the dual carriageway and a strange multiple lock-on tube blocked the other side of the road; this took up a lot of space and worked well. The tripods and lock-on set went up very quick, so much so that even the police inspector commented at how efficient we all were and within minutes Lorries were backed up on the duel carriageway and down side roads, public cars were allowed to go through later which was negotiated early on with the police.
There were 12 people arrested, all when they either came down from tripods or unlocked themselves, one of which was in a wheel chair, disabled and locked on to the tripod legs!
The police inspector praised the protesters for the speed at which they deployed the tripods and lock-on tubes. He also commented how upset Sainsbury’s was at being blocked in/out and were very unhappy at the situation. This obviously left the inspector in a difficult position as they were there to allow the smooth running of the Lorries.
Until next time