Today, all in all, would have qualified as being a fairly decent anti-fracking action, if not for how it ended. There was a total lockdown of the Cuadrilla PNR fracking site. The sun was out, people were all smiley, and I seen the last contingent of Heddlu (police from north Wales leave, after the seven days notice served by their PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner) expired, he disagreed with police costs at fracking sites, thinking it better that the frackers pay for their own security, and apart from other reasoning he was against Welsh policing at ANY fracking sites as Wales has banned fracking, so it went against the desires of the folk that they serve.

We were leaving soon after this, which was handy as there was a teeny tiny shower starting. But my departure was delayed by a very important visitor, a heron (bird) landed opposite the fracking site, but Cuadrilla said there was no special ‘nature’ significance … Heron are protected, I believe.

In Great Britain the heron is protected at all times under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with fines or prison sentences available for anyone killing or attempting to kill one (see A brief guide to birds and the law, linked from this page, for further details).

I decided to swap cams from the blackphone to my Samsung, to try zooming in better. The Blackphone crashed (yet again, and I needed it to tether from) and took ten minutes to recover. Once I was ready, and about to restart the stream, I was grabbed from behind by a protester, and told that one of three remaining truck surfers named Rosko was about to come down willingly from his lock-on. This is were the story changes from being a fairly decent anti-fracking action. He was coming down (and I almost missed it, but for the heron) for the most amazing reason. The haulage truck that Rosco was on top of had responded to RTP emails, saying that they had no idea that their lorry was being used to transport fracking equipment.

L&M continued that they were contracted via someone to take a big metallic block to a rugby parking area on the Fylde, but on arrival they were told by police to park with other trucks and await escort to PNR. The person they were booked via had not identified Cuadrilla as the client, nor the final delivery address, nor that there was any connection to fracking.

Rosko offered to stop his protest on hearing this. Especially since L&M continued further that they were hired on a contract price, not per hour, and were only a small husband + wife team, that had been hoodwinked. It seems that above all else, L&M were showing great understanding of right to protest and agreement for usages. And they have also shown wonderful social conscience in being against fracking.

After Rosco got down, almost immediately, the L&M lorry reversed up the road, did a U-turn, and left the area, still pulling the part to the fracking rig base it had on it’s flatbed. That’s a huge win for activism as a whole! And I’d like to hope OLSX could send out supportive Tweets, and FB posts, to perhaps help support L&M for supporting us.

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