There’s enough coppers to pay to police gas protesters

THIN blue line? Really? Is someone pulling my leg? Every morning I have to run the gauntlet of a bunch of well-intentioned but extremely annoying protesters, raging against a machine from a fracking company called Quadrilla here in the north west.

Now to me they are entitled to make peaceful protest but if they block the public highway they should be carted off and punished by the courts.

If I drove in a similar manner to the obstructive way in which they block the road, I’d be heavily fined and face a custodial sentence if I repeated the offence.

But the point here is that for the duration of this protest there have been literally thousands of officers – many drafted from neighbouring forces and being paid what must amount to millions in overtime, for what is essentially a dispute with a private company.

Why on earth am I, and hundreds of thousands of other council tax payers funding this nonsense?

If the protesters break the law, drag them off to chokey and put a banning order on their return.

But if any fracking company wants protection, it should pay for it – just like football clubs have to.

Resources shortage? Don’t make me laugh, it’s just a question of priorities. Just like it is in the NHS – now don’t get me started on the waste there. Norman Thompson, Blackpool, Lancs