London nuclear train stopped again

The 18 May action involved two demonstrators climbing onto the tracks in front of a nuclear-waste-carrying train which had stopped at Stratford station, while a third protester spray-painted "Help! Danger!" on the flask carrying the radioactive waste. Transport police were called (the signal-man had reported that up to 20 people were chained to the flask ... ) and the three demonstrators arrested No resistance was offered, and--apart from one railway worker clobbering a protester with a piece of cardboard--there was no violence. Supporters staged a demonstration outside Forest Gate police station and leafletted passers-by until the last of the three was released on bail around 10.30pm.

Chris Gwyntopher and Katy Andrews are charged with obstructing the railway, and Oliver Stoll with causing criminal damage. The case will be heard in Stratford magistrates' court in June.

In December 1994, peace activists Pat Arrowsmith and David Polden drew attention to the Stratford connection by sitting in front of a nuclear waste train, delaying it for 20 minutes (Peace News February 1995). Pat and David have not yet been given a date for their Crown Court trial; they had originally been charged with "malicious obstruction", but this was later revised to simple obstruction.

Trains carrying nuclear waste rods stop at Stratford almost every Thursday to change drivers, en route from Bradwell power station in Essex to the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria. The trains have used the North London and Gospel Oak lines for many years, but official secrecy means that few people are aware of their passage through residential areas of London.