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On Monday 15 August the High Court granted Esso an interim injunction to prevent protesters disrupting construction work on a vast aviation fuel pipeline in the South of England.
Esso is replacing about 90km of pipe between Boorley Green in Hampshire and its west London terminal storage facility in Hounslow, near Heathrow airport.
Judge Mr. Justice Eyre heard that protesters have attempted to obstruct work on the new pipeline including by tampering with machinery and "attacking" segments of the pipeline with angle grinders. One protester, identified in court documents as Scott Breen, had dug himself in near the M25 in Runnymede in Surrey.
Having heard submissions, Eyre J stated that there was “material indicating an agreement between a number of persons to disrupt the construction of the pipeline, to do so by entry onto private land and/or land which is enclosed for the purposes of the construction of the pipeline”.
He held that Esso had at least an arguable case that this was being done in an attempt to "damage" its business by stopping it from constructing a pipeline that it has been given permission to build by a Development Consent Order. Additionally, he said that online threats of "more disruption" had been made.
Eyre J held that an injunction was “proportionate and necessary to ensure that [Esso] is permitted to carry on its lawful activities”. The court will reevaluate the injunction on 7 September.
Tim Morshead QC acted for Esso, instructed by Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP.
Press coverage of this case may be found in The Independent, BBC News and The Guardian.
