M25: Officers respond quickly to people on gantries on M25

November 8

Three people arrested as part of our response to disruption on the Essex stretch of the M25 yesterday, Monday 7 November, have been charged and are due to appear in court today.

Joseph Linheart, Rosemary Jackson and Luke Elson have all been charged with intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance.

The arrests were made at junctions 27 and 30.

Linheart, 20, of Dickenson Road, London, N8, Jackson, 24, of Buxton Road, London, E15, and Elson, 29, also of Buxton Road, London, E15, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning, Tuesday 8 November. 

Three people have been arrested after our officers responded quickly to two incidents on the M25 this morning.

Two people – a man and a woman – were arrested at junction 30 at 7.30am this morning as they attempted to climb a gantry.

Neither were able to climb onto the structure and therefore disruption at the junction was kept to an absolute minimum. They are now in custody being questioned on suspicion of road traffic offences.

A third person had locked himself onto a gantry at junction 27.

We responded quickly, however the complexities of the incident meant it took some time to resolve safely and responsibly.

He has now been safely removed from the gantry and has been arrested.

At this stage, there are no longer any reported incidents on the Essex stretch of the M25 and the road has now fully re-opened.

Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said:

“We quickly dealt with three incidents on the Essex stretch of the M25 this morning and swiftly arrested three people.

“They are now in custody being questioned on suspicion of road traffic offences.

“We have an appropriate 24-hour policing plan in place to deal with incidents such as this which means we can respond quickly to minimise and indeed stop any disruption to road users.

“Our priority, as it has always been, is to keep our county moving and we do that safely and responsibly.

“We are not anti-protest – this is rightly enshrined in law – but we will not tolerate dangerous acts which put lives at risk and we will always respond and take decisive action.

“I know those of you who have been affected this morning will be frustrated by the disruption and I want to thank you for your patience and understanding.”

We are currently responding to reports of people climbing up on an overhead gantry close to Junction 30 of the #M25.

Officers are on the scene and working to keep disruption to a minimum to keep Essex moving this morning.

Arrests have already been made by our officers at a number of locations.

The operational team in charge of this response have acted quickly and ask the public not to intervene.

These arrests have formed part of a nationwide operational response to protest activity.