This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Climate activists protesting against Heathrow’s planned third runway caused lengthy delays on the M4 by blocking a tunnel leading to the airport for three hours.

Campaigners for Rising Up used three cars to close the tunnel leading from the motorway to Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 at about 8.25am on Tuesday. Three protesters chained themselves to one of the vehicles, which had a banner reading: “No new runways”.

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The drivers of two vehicles, both men, were arrested for obstructing a highway by about 9.30am, according to the Metropolitan police, and their vehicles had been removed.

A contraflow was in place to allow traffic to move through the blocked tunnel but police warned travellers delays were possible. Long tailbacks on the M4 eased but the road remained busy, the BBC Radio London traffic bulletin warned.

The third car was removed and the tunnel was reopened at around 11.30am, the police said.

“Heathrow officers worked with Heathrow airport staff to remove the people locked to the third car. These two men and one woman were, once removed, arrested on for obstructing a highway,” the police said.

“One man has been taken to hospital as a precaution; the remaining man and woman have been taken into custody, also at a west London police station.”

A four-month public consultation into the decision to build a third runway at Heathrow is under way. Rising Up, which staged a similar protest last November, says if the runway goes ahead it will allow an extra 250,000 flights a year, causing carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the whole of Kenya’s.

Simon Bramwell, one of the activists involved in Tuesday’s action, said in a statement released by Rising Up that he also participated in the previous protest.

“I am breaking conditions imposed on me by the courts, following road blockades in November, but the government is not listening to the science or to our concerns,” he said. “They have left us with no alternative but to keep taking action. We will not stop until plans to build another runway are fully and finally shut down.”

A Rising Up spokesman told the Guardian: “History has shown that unless we can disrupt the status quo, the powers that be will say the right thing and kick doing the right thing down the road for as long as they can.”

He added: “The inconvenience of some people missing their flights is absolutely nothing compared to the inconvenience of your country being flattened by a typhoon.”