Shell injunction to stop Just Stop Oil protesters

Shell has obtained an injunction banning certain activities at a High Wycombe petrol station after protests by Just Stop Oil.

A copy of the legal order, issued by the High Court, is stuck to the entrance sign at Shell Loudwater, 722 London Road.

The injunction prohibits blocking access to the forecourt, disrupting fuel supplies and damaging equipment, including pumps.

It is also forbidden for people to damage the petrol station by fixing themselves to it, ‘erecting structures’ in it, defacing it with graffiti or spraying, painting, pouring or depositing any substances at the site.

Anyone breaching the order will be in contempt of court and may be imprisoned, fined or have their assets seized.

Shell said it took out the injunction at all its petrol stations in England and Wales to protect its workers.

A spokesperson for the British oil giant told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We respect the right of everyone to express their point of view, as long as they do so with their safety and the safety of others in mind.

“Unfortunately, it is clear that dangerous and unlawful protests remain a continuing and real threat to the safety of our staff, customers, contractors and the protestors themselves.”

However, Just Stop Oil – which is known for its disruptive tactics – has accused Shell of using of injunctions to try and silence people protesting against the fossil fuel industry’s contribution to climate change.

A spokesperson for activist group said: “Injunctions are private laws bought by corporations to circumvent the usual rule of law.

“Shell is effectively pre-emptively suing people when they haven’t even taken action, because those named on an injunction are liable for court costs, even if they haven’t broken it.

“Our judiciary and political system has been hijacked by corporate criminals who are engaged in the worst possible crime of destroying our society. What are we all going to do about it?”

Shell denied that it was trying to silence free speech about climate change or crack down on peaceful protesters.

It said: “The purpose of our injunctions is not to restrict peaceful protest, but rather to provide a significant deterrent to dangerous and unlawful protest activity which has the potential to cause serious harm.”

Shell claimed that the injunctions, which it has had in place since spring 2022, have ‘had a strong deterrent effect coinciding with a decrease in the types of disruptive and dangerous protester activity at Shell sites’.

On April 28, 2022, before Shell’s injunctions were in place, Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted a tanker and damaged all 36 petrol pumps at Shell Cobham in Surrey by smashing them with hammers.

Shell has been granted similar injunctions preventing disruptive protest activities at its Shell Haven Terminal and Shell Centre Tower in London.

The company did not confirm if its injunctions were designed to target any specific protest group but said they were to ‘prevent anyone undertaking such prohibited activity’.

Shell said it was currently reviewing Just Stop Oil’s protest at Cobham and a similar demonstration at Shell Acton in 2022.

Just Stop Oil is a non-violent civil resistance group demanding that the government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.

A spokesperson for the group said they did not believe there were any protests planned for Buckinghamshire.