PLANE STUPID FOOLS MUST PAY

PLANE STUPID, the aptly named anticlimate change protest group, last Thursday caused hundreds of holidaymakers to miss their flights from Heathrow after activists padlocked themselves to a stationary vehicle in the tunnel leading to the airport.

Perhaps the police might have moved faster: it took them until 11am to re-open the tunnel, having been alerted to the blockage at 7.42am.

But the real responsibility for the misery of so many families rests squarely with those who chose to obstruct their route — and in a way that was potentially most dangerous.

Plane Stupid’s spokesman, Cameron Kaye, argued that this was trivial compared to the risk that expansion of Heathrow presents of ‘wiping out 55 per cent of all species this century’.

In the real world, his actions will not preserve the life of a single insect.

But what about the economic costs to humans in the here and now? Who will reimburse those passengers, whether holidaymakers or businessmen, forced to pay for new tickets?

Is there any reason why those who are out of pocket should not combine together to bring an action for damages against Plane Stupid or, if the organisation has no financial assets of its own, then against the individuals who chained themselves in the Heathrow tunnel?