New motorway gantries ‘more difficult to scale’

Motorway gantries will be harder for Just Stop Oil protesters to climb after a redesign by National Highways.

The roadside structures will be “more resilient to trespassers” as steps for maintenance crews will be inside pillars rather than outside, according to the government-owned company.

Gantries above the M25 were repeatedly scaled in November, halting the UK’S busiest motorway. Days of disruption led to arrests. An injunction was granted against 65 protesters, who face imprisonment, an unlimited fine or the seizure of assets if they attached themselves to gantries. The Metropolitan Police bill came to £7.5million.