"These officials have a habit of forgetting who employs them and who pays their wages"

THE continued disruption caused by eco-protesters in West Thurrock has resulted in further criticism of its management by police and Thurrock Council.

The Council has been branded as bungling and apathetic after a businessman had to shut down his transport business because of a botched list – and a newspaper editor has apologised to his readers after police blocked transportation of his title from the presses close to the protest zone.

The criticism contrasts with the official line coming out from the authorities as they deal with problems caused by JustStopFuel members who have tunnelled under local roads as part of their campaign.

The tunnels were dug at St Clements Way and Stoneness Road – though just the St Clements one remains. Stoneness Road re-opened Monday 29 August, following its closure with limited vehicle access.

Management of that access is the root cause of the complaints.

On Monday evening (29 August) a spokesperson from Essex Police said: "Essex Police are continuing to work with partners to minimise disruption to the roads and keep the public safe. Following this week's protests over 50 arrests have been made and these individuals remain under investigation.

"We thank the public for the cooperation during this disruption and assure you that we are continuing to do everything possible to investigate these incidents and prevent them from happening."

And also on Monday a spokesperson from Thurrock Council said: "Thank you to Essex Police and our partner agencies for the round the clock support that has been provided in the area this last week.

"The road closures have had significant impact on our local business and we are grateful for everyone's understanding during these challenging times. Together we have been monitoring the situation meticulously and have had a duty of care to protect life and keep everyone safe, but also keep Thurrock moving.

"We would like to thank all of the businesses for their ongoing patience and those businesses in the local area who have supported the police operation too.

"Finally, thank you to the council officers who have worked so closely with our stakeholders and will be working through the night tomorrow to repair the damage caused to our roads."

"Not a single councillor, manager, or employee of Thurrock Borough Council extended the most basic of common courtesy of returning my calls for the whole devastating day. Aside from dereliction of duty, incompetence, it's just rude. I am absolutely furious with the council and disappointed by the police."

However, not everyone is happy.

Rob Hollyman is a director of Youngs Transportation and Logistics and he was angry after a council list of permitted access, which was used by the police, omitted his firm's name – and the police simply stopped members of his 200 strong workforce from getting to their jobs.

The firm had been affected in the immediate aftermath of the protest's start, which Mr Hollyman acknowledges was unavoidable as protesters had glued themselves to Oliver Road, preventing access to his depot.

He says: "The road was closed for a day a week or so ago which while hugely annoying, was understandable. The protesters had glued themselves to road and fences so it was a safety issue."

Access was then permitted, but over the weekend the council submitted a list of permitted access to police officers – and Youngs were not on it.

The police took the list as sacrosanct and refused access to vehicles and staff attempting to get to and from the depot.

Despite the best efforts of Mr Hollyman and his warehouse manager on Monday, he drew a blank in trying to get the list amended.

That left Mr Hollyman incandescent and he says: "The performance of the council was far from satisfactory, particularly the senior business continuity officer who eventually returned my first call at 07.30 hrs by simply asking for my email address and then saying to "sit by my emails".

"I never heard another spoken or written word from her, despite several email "reminders" and numerous phone calls to the Thurrock emergency number. 

"The numerous ladies I spoke to had a torrid day yesterday made far worse by those on presumably very ample salaries and very long job titles doing absolutely nothing!    

Youngs' busy site was brought to a halt by a council decision.

"Not a single councillor, manager, or employee of Thurrock Borough Council extended the most basic of common courtesy of returning my calls for the whole devastating day. 

"Aside from dereliction of duty, incompetence, it's just rude.  

"Not one of our vehicles could get in or out of our own depot because Thurrock Borough Council had not included us on the initial list distributed to the police to allow our vehicles access, nor did they include us on the updated list later that day. 

"I am absolutely furious with the council and disappointed by the police who point blank refused to let me speak to any senior officer to plead for common sense, after all, if they had driven 300 yards to our depot, they would see clearly that we are based there as the building borders and vehicles therein are all liveries and festooned with our logos and names. 

"These elected officials and serving police officers have a habit of forgetting who employs them and who pays their wages, it is us the council tax and business rate payers, and they have a duty to us which they are clearly not discharging."

"This is simply nonsensical"

The ban also included vehicles attempting to pick up newspapers from the Daily Mail printing plant on Oliver Road.

That had huge implications for publishers, which include the Portsmouth News daily paper – which lost its whole print run on Monday!

The editor of the News, Mark Waldron, has launched a scathing attack 'police and council bigwigs' responsible for the decision.

The Mail print plant and Portsmouth News editor Mark Waldron.

In an online message to his readers apologising for the non-appearance of their daily paper, Mr Waldron said: "The road from the site was closed to all but what police deemed to be "priority traffic".

"Oil tankers and food delivery vans are understood to have been allowed through – but drivers delivering The News were among those prevented from continuing their journey.

"I can only apologise to all our readers and advertisers for the lack of The News on Monday.

"This was due to circumstances well out of our control and a protest which was not specifically targeting us, but which we fell victim to.

"When I was alerted to the protest I was told police had the situation under control and there would be no distribution issues. However, this escalated into a key road to and from the site being closed to all but 'priority' vehicles.

"I'm told police were happy to let oil tankers and food delivery vans through but not The News drivers. Why was it deemed safe for some vehicles and not others? This is simply nonsensical.

"It also flies in the face of the Government's position that newspapers provide an essential service to readers. On Sunday night we should have been treated accordingly.

"At the start of the pandemic journalists covering the covid 19 crisis were rightly given the status of key workers as it was recognised the continued flow of information was vital to people's lives.

"But The News is not just here in times of emergency. Since 1877 we have been informing our readers across our patch of what is happening, giving them the information they need, keeping them entertained and ensuring we play a part in bringing communities together.

"I need a full explanation into why the police and council officials stopped us from doing that."

Damning the group of "police and council bigwigs" responsible for the decision, he continued: "

"We will not rest until we have answers from those in authority on how this was allowed to happen and how we can ensure it will not happen again."

In a statement issued to The News Essex Police said: "Last night, we responded to reports of a protest in Grays, where eight people were arrested. Following a risk assessment, the road was closed until around 3am (Monday).

"It was agreed by the Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) to limit vehicle access to the St Clements Way area.

"The SCG consists of police, Thurrock Council and strategic partners working together in an effort to maintain everyone's safety, keep traffic moving and minimise the impact of disruption to critical businesses and infrastructure.

"A partial road closure allowed priority traffic to enter the area. To ensure the integrity and safety of the road, all other traffic was asked to avoid the area."

The force did not answer a specific question by The News about who decided what traffic was deemed a priority, while Thurrock Council did not respond to its request for information.