Travel chaos as protestors shut off Heathrow Tunnel

DEMONSTRATORS have blockaded the entrance tunnel to Heathrow Airport in a protest against plans to build a third runway. 

Five activists from the environmental group Plane Stupid are locked in a van with ‘No new runways’ printed over a black banner across the vehicle and police are at the rush hour scene. 

Traffic has been pushed back to the M4 according to motorists keeping track of the incident on Twitter. Delays are expected until 10.30am.

A spokesman for Heathrow said passengers planning to travel to the airport by road should make plan for delays. 

“We can confirm there is a protest taking place in the inbound tunnel which is currently affecting traffic around the central terminal area and Terminals 2 and 3 at Heathrow,” the spokesman said. “Police are now on site but we urge passengers to allow extra time getting to the airport today.”

Cameron Kaye, a spokesman for Plane Stupid, said the protest was being staged because of concerns about the impact a third runway could have on the environment.

“Airport expansion would wreck the legally binding Climate Change Act, risking wiping out 55 per cent of species this century and displacing 75 mIllion more people from their homes by 2035,” Kaye said in a statement on the group’s website.